Void Wolf (English ver)
by Ridli Scott
Summary: English version of my main fic Void Wolf. Louise manages to finally summon her familiar a Wolf-in-Exile sibko member. A mechwarrior in training, created with the only purpose of war, who has his own ideas about what a Familiar should be like and how to confront this strange world, unfortunately he wasn't the first people of his world to reach Halkeginia. M for adult themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi all, this is Ridli Scott (not the movie director but the acid-sweater mutant from Fanhunter's comic books). I'm so glad... and nervous, very nervous, to present you my first attempt to post an English fic here. In this case the translation of my fic Void Wolf.**

 **My main language isn't english so I ask forgiveness for the mistakes that will surely be here.**

 **Man! I'm really nervous about this.**

 **This could be a very loooooong work, I'll try to make slow but steady pace, but I don't make any promise.**

 **Before I start I want to thank Poliamida for his support and help. If you don't know his fic Zero Summing you are missing a great story, it** **'s worth reading** **it.**

 **So enjoy... I hope.**

 **Oh wait! I almost forgot! One more thing, this isn't the typical Battletech's fic.**

 **I own none of the franchises that** **appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.**

* * *

Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière was a model student, or at least that's what the written tests said. She was one of the best students of the school academically speaking. But, she had a problem. Although she had learned all the magic spells, potion recipes taught at the Tristanian Academy of Magic, she was unable to use them, any spell, any attempt to imbue a potion, all transmutation ended in the same way- with a sharp and humiliating explosion.

This failure record had led many teachers to give her up as a lost case, and her companions, nobles like her yet in many cases spoiled and capricious children, to mock her fate. She had been even been contemptuously nicknamed The Zero, Louise the Zero. The girl's academic life had been plagued with countless hours of study, desperately trying to find an answer to her failures, and with that to quell the mockery of her companions. It was always followed by failed attempts to perform a spell, any spell to stop their jeering.

And there she was, in her last attempt, or all or nothing. That day was the Springtime Summoning Ritual, a unique and important event where each magician decided his destiny, and as such invoking a familiar that would determine their magical affinity. If Louise couldn't summon anything, she would be expelled from the Academy. After that, she would be worth nothing more than a candidate for a marriage arranged by her parents, a womb with noble blood, only that and that alone.

But Louise could not afford to fail, she couldn't. She herself had ignored the mockery of the German harlot named Kirche von Anhalf Zerbst German, not only a member of her family enemies but probably one of the more vocal bully of the Academy against her, and told her that she would summon a more powerful familiar than she could summon.

Now, after Kirche's summoning, she had to summon something more powerful than a fire salamander, more than a meter long reptile that breathed fire and had a flame in its tail. _Marvellous, simply marvellous_. She thought as the crowd watched her, eager to see her fail.

Louise in her first two attempts had only been able to summon two smoke plumes that rose from her explosions. The dust had blinded her and made her cough, but she had to do it. The professor Colbert, the only professor who had not yet given up on her, shook his head a little and told her to try again- she still had one more chance, one more try.

"Surrender, Zero! The third time might be lucky and you will can blow yourself to pieces." It was heard among her companions, since long ago she did not bother to know who was the one who insulted her.

"Montmorency, my dear, get cover behind me, I do not want this useless Zero to hurt you."

"Professor, I know that the rules of the ceremony allow up to three attempts, but she will never get anything, and we are risking ourselves to blast-"

"Silence!" Order the teacher. "Miss de la Vallière has respected your invocation shifts, and she has not made any comment when someone had a problem. Show some respect for a peer! Aren't you nobles? If so, then behave as such!"

There was silence, and Louise raised the wand again, remembered the words and tried to make them hers, give them all the strength, to the last bit of willpower that she could gather and send all that power to her invocation. It was now victory or defeat. Clutching her feet and standing firm, she made precise wand movements perfect in performance as she recited with a firm and determined voice, trying to be graceful but precise, melodious and sure.

* * *

Away from there someone was also facing a more than possible defeat too.

"LRM incoming! We are in the open!"

" _ **My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe"**_

"Claw-3, take cover behind this rocks!" "It is an order damn _stravag_!"

" _ **My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call"**_

"Claw-4 has fallen!" "A direct PPC to the cockpit!"  
 **  
"** _ **I wish and assert from very bottom of my heart."**_

"We are the Clan of the Wolf in Exile! Stop behaving like freebirth surats!"

" _ **Answer my guidance and appear!"**_

"Squad leader eliminated, combat simulation finis-" Cadet Kyle's radio was filled with static while he was still running with his _Pack Hunter_ to get cover. As he ran from the swarm of simulated missiles that was thrown over him, just when he managed to hide behind a hill he fell on his face with a bright green light that blinded him. All went dark until his battlemech hit the ground.

* * *

Kirche rose with the smoke as she sighed in annoyance.

"As you would expect from Louise the Zero, you are incapable of-" Kirche said, stopping as she saw the object that had apeared from the smoke. In front of them, trying to get up, there was a small metal golem with something like a cannon on his right shoulder.

"By the Founder!" Exclaimed Professor Colbert, staring at the construct with his mouth open. His young pupil approached him with the same expression of astonishment.

"That- that's my familiar?" Louise asks.

"Yes, it is." Colbert said smiling to the girl. "It seems that despite the explosion you have managed to summon an unique familiar. Finish the contract."

"Yes- yes- right now professor." She said, still with doubts, but now with a hope that was born of her current and obvious success.

Suddenly the golem got to its feet, dropping large chunks of earth and grass from its body that had started to fall. As it began to look left and right, twisting its own torso in a way they had never seen before in a living thing, as if it had the neck at the waist. Louise would have sworn that it looked confused.

"Don't- don't be afraid, familiar!" Chirped hesitantly the pink haired girl. "I- I- I called you."

The golem stopped looking at both sides and tilted its torso toward the scared nobles gathered there. It looked like it didn't hadn't noticed their presence before, and by a stroke of luck it had not stepped on anyone. When finally it saw them, the golem began to make gestures while a powerful voice with a great reverberation came out of its head.

"What _stravag_ are you doing here? This training ground belongs to the clan Wolf in Exile!"

"It can speak?" Asked Kirche with surprise to Tabitha, her blue haired, small and silent friend. She simply nodded in response.

"Of course I can talk! And hear better with the directional microphones of my battlemech!" It said, turning to the one who had spoken. " _Freebirth_! Where in the name of Kerensky is everyone? Where am I? Command, this is Claw-3, come in! Command, this is Claw-3, come in! Please reply. Star captain Sturm? Instructor Yields? _Stravag_ radio! Where I am?"

"Excuse me."A bald-headed adult man in a robe came over to where the pink haired girl stood. "You're in the Tristanian Academy of Magic, and we were preforming the Springtime Summoning Ritual. My student Louise de la Vallière has invoked you."

"Summoning? Magic? Tristanian Academy of Magic? Have you taken any drugs or what? Damn freeborns!"  
"No, the mind-affecting potions are forb..."

"Magic does not exist!" It turned its torso again, as if searching for something. "For The Remembrance! What is this? I have no readings of any fusion engines in the vicinity, there are not even any marks of combat ... _Freebirth_!" He finally realized. "How is the air breathable? We were in a combat drill in Dust Bowl, there the air can kill you in minutes. And gravity? This cannot be!"

"An air-breathing golem?" Guiche asked Montmorency.

"But is it that you have the brain of a _surat_ or what?" The creature turned to the blond boy who had spoken gesticulating with both arms. Both finished in chubby hands with elongated claw-shaped fingers very different from any normal golem they had seen before. "Have not you ever seen a battlemech?"

"No." Was the blonde's response. "And I demand more respect! Zero, make your familiar behave!"

"Wait! Do you think that who you are talking is my machine and not me?" The creature sounded surprised.

"I don't understand, Miss de la Valliere's familiar, but please calm down. She needs to finish the ritual." Interrupted the bald professor.

"Oh! By The Remembrance! Where did I end up?" It asked as bent its knee to earth and put its hand at a certain height to help get to where the pilot could dismount. "It will make more sense when I go down; you can explain to me what is happening."

In the head of the golem a door was opened and a human figure came out, a boy dressed in a jumpsuit, stepping out in one smooth motion to the golem's left shoulder. His strange clothes were open and showed a more strange harness full of cables and tubes. On his head he had a strange helmet that he took off when leaving the golem's head and threw inside. Then he started to climb down and walked on the golem forearm, ending in its hand and jumped to the ground. He was a boy of about sixteen or seventeen, with brown hair strangely cut at the temples and quite attractive despite the sweat that clogged his hair and crossed his face.

"Who are you?" The little pink haired girl tried to command. She seemed to be dressed like the rest of her other girls that were around her, with a white long sleeve shirt, a very short pleated skirt, long stockings that almost covered the whole legs, leaving to see only a few centimetres of pale pink skin before arriving at the own skirt, and a dark blue cape on the shoulders. A golden spherical pendant with a star inscribed on a pentagon was placed on her neck. The boy thought it was some kind of odd uniform, but a uniform could mean some sort of military organization.

"Who am I going to be? I am the pilot of that Mech. Cadet Kyle, of the bloodline Kerensky, _sibko_ Silver Fang of the clan Wolf in the Exile." He said squaring and saluting in a martial manner.

"You control that golem?" Asked the girl. _Why, in the name of Kerensky, she dye her hair of that colour? In combat the enemy would see you from afar._ Kyle thought.

" _Freebirth!_ It is a 30-ton light battlemech. A _Pack Hunter_ , and I am its pilot during this exercise."

"Whatever." Said the robed professor. "Miss Louise, you must seal the contract."

"But-"

"If you don't want, I can do it!" Said a dark-skinned girl with hair like fire and a large bust that made Kyle blink twice.

The girl with pink hair, was visibly annoyed by this offering. She stood before him and started waving a curious pointer, similar to the ones that some instructors used to teach the cadets in theoretical classes.

"You should feel honoured! This is not something that a noble normally gives to someone like you! _My name is Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers; bless this humble being, and make him my familiar!_ " She finished waving the pointer that started to glow with a strange glare, as if on the tip it had a bluish laser. Kyle stared so intently at it that he did not see the girl coming, who caught his face and kissed him on the lips.

Kyle tensed a second. The girl was not his type, she looked too fragile compared to any of his _sibko's_ female companions. But, if that freeborn wanted to know how a Wolf kissed, even if he was a cub, Kyle wasn't going to disappoint her...

"Arggg!" She shrieked as she slipped out of Kyle's arms. "Damn pervert dog!" She said giving a strong kick to the boy that he stopped with his right forearm while looking at her with a wolf-like smile, to which she responded by raising the wand as if she was to use it to split the boy in two.

"What's the matter, Miss de la Vallière?" Said the professor.

"This- this- perv- perverted dog stuck his tongue in- in my mouth!" Louise cried. Behind the girl, her companions burst out laughing.

"Typical of Louise the Zero! Summon a commoner that not only don't obey her but does try to 'get along' with her!" Said a student as he grabbed his stomach laughing.

"COMMONER!?" Kyle shouted in a roar as he pushed the girl aside and faced the group of students. "I belong to the Kerensky bloodline, the proudest and most important bloodline of the Clans! I am a Trueborn! Not a servant of the neo-barbarian lords of the Inner-!" He stopped screaming for a second as he grabbed his left hand, twisting his face in a gesture of pain. He took off his left armored glove and looked at his hand. It was shining and strange white lines were written on the back of it. "What have you made me, you damned freeborn!?" At this, the older man came to see his hand.

"It seems to have been a success, Miss de la Vallière. A contract at the first try and well defined, however the runes are unknown to me-"

"What _surat's_ excrement runes" He said, pounding the teacher with the hand that still glowed leaving him unconscious on the floor. Then he jumped on the pink haired girl, and the next thing he knew he was on the ground several meters to the right of where he was supposed to be. A strong wind was blowing, until it stopped unnaturally. When he raised his head, he saw a girl with gasses, short and very thin with blue hair moving his staff who spoke in a monotone.

"No fighting."

"But how-?" He jumped and stood up, lowering his center of gravity and putting his arms low, waiting for any kind of attack. The girl wasn't on guard, or at least it didn't look she was. She looked at him as if he was transparent. Preparing to attack, Kyle's vision became slightly blurred. He knew that he was somewhat dehydrated from the simulated battle, but not enough to be so weak. They must have done something to him! But, for the Kerensky's legacy, he would not give them the satisfaction of defeating him with tricks. He breathed deeply, trying to overcome the effect of whatever happened to him and take a combat stance. However, he could barely gain any consciousness against whatever that stunning him.

At that moment a blond boy approached carrying a rose in his hands. Adopting a pretentious pose he spoke.

"Louise the Zero could be a null in magic, but I mustn't allow a such savage as you attacks a noble lady. Familiar! I'll have to immobilize you until you calm down! My name is Guiche de Gramont and-"

His speech was interrupted by a punch to the face with Kyle's remaining armored glove knocking him unconscious. Kyle did not feel better, though, as he took a few steps towards his Mech and fell unconscious.

* * *

 **Ok, this is the end from now.**

 **In the Spanish version I had to put a glossary in some chapters because Battletech is not well known in our language. It's a callous and hard to explain issue about** **copyright** **(** **I'll only say that my biggest dream about that topic is that the Timun Mas editorial will burn to the ground while its copyright managers are sodomized by demons full of burning spikes** **).**

 **If any one has any doubts do not hesitate to consult me ... And if any Battletech fan doesn't have the faintest idea that it's Familiar of Zero ... well, you can also contact me, try to find the light novel or watch the anime.**

 **If I could find some native english speaker that could help me with this I would be happy.**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield mechjocks ...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ok, the first chapter has a good reception in numbers I'm glad about that. It had a lot of errors, but I edited to correct some hopping to improve the story and my english.**

 **I have to thank Poliamida for check the chapter and help me with some issues. And also thank the** **the boys from** _ **Space Battles**_ **, because without their critics I would not have encouraged myself to correct all that I could and not only that, but to did one special thing to this chapter that I will comment upon finishing the same.**

 **I own none of the franchises that** **appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.**

* * *

Kyle sank into the darkness, he felt weightless, like floating in Zero-G.

"Where am I?" He asked to the vast infinite surrounding him, but no one answered him. Instead of that, small lights appeared in front of him, like bubbles of the size of a man's fist.

Each one of these bubbles had something reflected on their surfaces. When one passed in front of him he saw what they were scenes, parts of his own memories.

The first time he piloted a Battlemech, he remembered it well, the machine didn't use a neurohelmet to synchronise balance with the mech's gyroscope but a clumsy and slow automatic balance system. It was hard to pilot but he had been very excited about that.

Another showed a sexual intercourse with his sibko partner Grana. She'd been very rude with all the sibko's boys and he hadn't been an exception. But sometimes it was worth finishing with a pair of bruises. Other times... not so much.

The next one showed Viter, Grana and Kyle during an unlucky adventure outside Wolf City. They had almost been expelled from the sibko for that stupid idea, Kyle's idea. He bit his lower lip hard.

The final sphere had in its center the face of a girl of no more than fourteen years of age trying to overcome the pain of her broken leg. She was among debris, dirty, helpless, but her face also showed a firm resolution. Kyle hesitated for a moment, and to his disgrace, he was unable to look at what was happening in that fragment of his memory. But it did not matter, he remembered it well, he thought he heard the thump of her head against the wall, the smell of gas from the needle-gun flooded his nostrils, his own pain in his ribs assaulted him again. He remembered her dead body near the corpse of the Steel Viper Elemental who killed her. Fida...

He saw another bubbles appear, too many to watch every one of them. The lights began to surround him, he felt their heat, like small fusion engines. And then he felt something else, a presence.

 **"Obey!"**

"What? Who are you?"

 **"OBEY!"** The voice echoed in the void.

"Who are you? Show yourself!"

 **"You will obey or I will tear you apart piece by piece!"** His voice, or maybe it was her voice, Kyle couldn't be sure, was almost painful.

"Never!" He countered. "I am a-"

 **"You are nothing and I will turn you into nothing until you obey!"** And the pain comes, and the screams.

He felt like someone managed to put a neuro-whip inside of his head, rolled around his brain. The lights star to face around him, one by one, as every memento disappears.

Kyle screamed louder as he realized that this presence was eliminating with each light his memories.

 _Neg! They are mine!_

 _Why did she die?_

 _You can not-!_

 _What was her name?_

 _NEG!_

 _Why was I there?_

 _These are mine!_

 _Who am I?_

 _Who?_

 _What am I?_

"You are a Wolf" A torn voice pierced the darkness.

 _I'm a Wolf?_

"The blood of Kerensky flow in your veins." The voice sounded closer.

 _I'm a Wolf._

"Howl!" He almost shouted.

 _I am a Wolf!_ Kyle screamed on his mind.

"Your kind made an oath."

 _Hark children of the Clans,  
To the wisdom of Kerensky and your forebears,  
Know what has come before;  
Remember it as you strive toward the future._

 **"Begone! He's mine!"** The first voice returns.

"Continue my children!" The other voice said to Kyle. "He will never be yours!"

 _Let all warriors bear their mark proudly,  
Taking what pride they can in their accomplishments;  
For our lives should be full of glory, but short.  
On the battlefield, we are alone._

 **"BEGONE! HE'S MINE!"**

"NEVER! He belongs to himself!"  
 _  
Then the order came, 'Furl the sails.'  
Ready for jump, mighty warriors.  
We journey back, we journey home-_

 **"He's already mine!"**

"No, I make him remember who he was so he never helps you in your foul plans!"

 _For the day will come and our kin will stand  
On Terra's firm soil, ready to rebuilt..._

 **"I'll kill all the heathens and he'll help me!"** He started to sound farther.

"He's free to choose his destiny, if he decides to do it will be his decision and his _way_ , not yours. Now begone, fiend!"

 _From Kerensky's Stars came the Eight Hundred-_

 **"I'll return"** The first voice faded.

"I know, but you will never get his soul and his will again"

 _And the ilKhan give us his final words,  
Charging us to protect those  
With whom we found refuge in our time of need.  
In this, our final duty, WE SHALL NOT FAIL!_

"Easy boy, he is gone." The second voice said almost fatherly. "He wounded you, I can't repair all the damage, but I return your memories. Now, wake up!"

* * *

Louise wasn't happy, she had summoned a familiar, she had finally proved to be able to cast a spell without failing at it, but this familiar had turned out to be some kind of young warrior, barbarian in the extreme, who despite appearing with that metallic golem was going to bring her more problems than solutions to those she was already carrying. He was violent, excessively violent, as Professor Colbert and Guiche had proven in their own flesh. The latter was still unconscious by that punch with those armored gloves. A commoner against a nobleman, and he had won! Though only because Guiche had recreated himself in his pose while Kyle had attacked without delay, and with everything he had.

A familiar was supposed to help his master, but here she was, sitting near her familiar's bed in the Academy's infirmary. Mr. Osmond had told her that the boy had been exposed to great stress and also an intense source of heat for a very long period of time, so much that he was quite dehydrated. Louise didn't understand why until Professor Colbert came back, with a slight bruise on his face, saying that the head of the golem was hollow, with a chair inside surrounded by levers and lights. He almost suffocated inside of the strange room because of the heat. In fact, the metal which covered the entire construct was still quite warm, although gradually was losing temperature. As a funny note, some student's familiars had approached it at nightfall to warm themselves.

She looked again at her annoying familiar, this one stirred slightly and mumbled something.

"...to protect those... we shall not fail..."

Louise stared at him: protect who? Could that violence be born of some noble motive? She shook her head. It could not be, he was just a barbarian.

She tried to bring her hand to his forehead to check his fever, but a rough hand closed over her wrist.

" _NEG_!" Scream the boy opening his eyes suddenly. He looked at the girl for a second unable to remember anything. Then he remembered what had happened in that strange place where his mech had face-landed. _So it was not a dream._ The other dream was harrowing. He hesitated for a moment, but it was only a dream and he wasn't a Nova Cat.

"You- you- filthy- dog! Let me go! I'm- I'm your master!" She said almost without able to articulate a word. This got Kyle out of his dark thoughts. He tried to relax and respond as he should, relegating that strange and useless dream to the bottom of his mind. He had to deal with that girl.

"I am not a dog, nor you are my master. In addition, with that voice of yours, no one will pay attention to you." He said leaning on the bed's headboard but without releasing his prey. "SIT DOWN!" Terrified Louise sat down on the chair from which she had risen to check the condition of her familiar. "You see? If you only shriek and bawl nobody will obey you, but if your voice reflects authority they will do. Now girl, without more nonsense, I am not in the mood, where am I?"

"We- we- we already told you." She almost stammered. The boy squeezed his hand a little more.

"What did I tell you about the voice tone? Speak with resolve or you will impose to nobody for the rest of your life! I will repeat my question, where am I?"

"We told you! You are at the Tristanian Academy of Magic in Halkeginia!" The girl raised her voice in despair.

"Halkeginia?" The pressure was reduced a bit. "I do not know the name of that planet. Do you belong to any successor state? Any minor nation of the periphery? Are you part of some kind of strange freebirth cult?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. Tristain is a kingdom!" Kyle let go of the girl, who grabbed her arm by the wrist trying to ease the pain.

"I understand, I am on a planet without unitary government. Freebirth! I must be on the Deep Periphery. By the Father and the Founder! How did I end here?"

"I already told you. I summoned you with my magic." The girl was crying as she held her bruised wrist.

"And I already told you too, _stravag_ , that I do not believe in that magic nonsense. Now tell me where the nearest spaceport is!"

"I don't know what a spaceport is! It's- it's- okay, I don't know anything about what you're talking about, I just wanted to summon a fa- familiar- so that everyone would stop mocking me." Huge tears fell from the girl's cheeks." I don't want to be called Louise the Zero anymore!"

"You are named Louise the Zero? Why?" That his familiar pronounced her hated nickname was another arrow stuck in the pride of the girl, although he lacked that mocking and hurtful tone she was accustomed to.

"Because I'm not able to cast any magic, every time I try it somehow backfires and causes an explosion."

"But you said that you summoned me using your- magic." He decided to follow that _stravag_ a little to see exactly where she was leading him, and maybe to discover a clue for where he was at the moment. "If you are incapable of doing magic, I see a contradiction there"

"This is the first time I managed to do something! And I couldn't avoid causing another explosion when I summoned you and your golem!" Kyle didn't bother to correct her.

" _Freebirth_! This is okay, show me." He said approaching the girl. "If you want me to believe that you have summoned me with magic, make something explode. If you are not capable I will make you tell me the true"

Louise rubbed her right sleeve over her eyes to wipe away her tears. Still undecided, she went to the window and pulled her wand out, she aimed at a portion of the lawn in the courtyard and said: "Fireball!"

 **BOOOMM!** An explosion similar to the impact of a grenade shook the area, Kyle could not believe it.

" _FREEBIRTH_!" He looked at the girl with the eyes wide open. "It can not be- it- _Neg_! Again!"

"What?" She asked.

"Do it again- aim this part of the lawn" He pointed another place thinking that maybe she had aimed at a preloaded explosive device, hidden with the intention of deceiving him.

She aimed and chanted again, the explosion was similar to the latter. He shook his head in despair. _This must be a tri-_ **"OBEY NOW!"** Kyle felt a compulsion in his body.

"So- is everything true?" He said in a strange tone.

"Yes!" Louise said this time in the firm voice that Kyle had demanded before, although somewhat sharp and dragged by the fury.

The boy sat back down on the bed and put his hands to his head, his eyes were wide open and full of despair.

" _Neg_! _Neg_! This cannot be happening!" He looked at the girl. "Can you return me back to my world?"

"No, I don't even know if there is a spell to bring familiars back... and I don't even know where your _supposed_ world is." Kyle was furious, angry, but he didn't have much to do, violence against the girl wouldn't solve his situation. In addition, if what she had said about the non-existence of the spaceport was true, and when he saw the naked rock walls and the oil lamps he feared to be so, then he was in a world with no technological means to take him home. And what was worse, the magic... what was it? How could it existence even be conceived? He shook his head and released a hysterical laugh before even trying to recover.

"You have defeated me before the combat even began, what a shame for me."

"Defeat?"

" _Af_ , defeat. No matter what I do, I could kill you right here, level this entire place, destroy all Tristain or Halkeginia, but that would do me no good. It would not change the fact that I will not be able to return to the Clan." He snorted loudly as Louise tried to understand how he spoke of destroying whole kingdoms himself so lightly. "What are the duties of a familiar?" She hesitated a little.

"A familiar is a being summoned by a mage as a partner and guardian, he must serve, obey and protect his master until one of the two dies."

" _Isorla_? I will be an _isorla_ for life?"

" _Isorla_?"

" _Af_ , a servant, you have captured me and..." He looked out of the window, seeing for the first time the two moons of that world. "...therefore I must be your servant. Do you have a cord, a rope or a string?"

"What?" Louise looked at him and remembered a sack of magical ingredients she had brought with her. She pulled out the shoulder strap and handed it to him.

"Hit me." He said once he checked that the strap had the right length.

"What?"

"Do it! Hard." Louise hesitated again, Kyle sighed and put his hand under the girl's skirt, action she replied with a loud slap on his face

"How you dare, dog?" He handed her the strap surprising her.

"Can you tie it around my wrist while you say: 'I -you say your name- claim you as _Isorla_ to my clan'?" She didn't understand anything. "Do it!"

"I Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière claim you as... _Isorla_ for my clan." And she tied the cord.

"Let this be my sign of servitude to you, Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière until I prove my worth in your eyes or my contract is fulfilled." He added this last part despite it not being registered anywhere in the rules of servitude of the clans due to the special condition of the event. "Thus shall it stand until we all shall fall!" He stared at Louise until she answered in confusion.

"Thus- thus shall it stand until we all- shall fall!" Kyle nodded. "What in the name of the Founder was that?"

"The equivalent of the clans to the contract between a familiar and his master. Although you have not defeated me in battle, you have defeated me by taking me to a place from which I cannot return to my world, and if you wish it to be your servant, it must be so, but we must do it according to the methods of the Clans." He felt the compulsion fading a bit. **"GOOD"  
**

"And- and- and put your hand there?" She said angrily.

"I needed you to hit me at least once, and believe me, it was not as hard as I would have hoped. Maybe you did not dislike it so much, _quiaff_?" This time a kick tried to hit him in the face, but Kyle pulled away and grabbed her by the leg, unbalancing her and causing Louise to fall on the floor showing her underwear, which Kyle thought too small to be practical, although it seemed 'very suggestive'.

"Release me, you dog!" She said as he still holds her leg.

"I am a Wolf, not a dog, I may be caged now but you shouldn't forget that." He said while dodging the kicks of the girl with her free leg. "And we will have to do something with your way of fighting or someday you will end up badly."

"How dare you try to teach something to a noble?" She pulled her wand again, Kyle let go of her leg, jumped out of bed and rolled around avoiding the explosion, although this left him stunned. Behind him, the bed where Guiche rested collapsed while the blond boy comically smoothed smoke through his mouth.

"So you are a noble, I admit that, whatever it means in this world. But you're not a Trueborn. And you let your frustration blind you. I may be your servant, or familiar, but I will also teach you other things." He jumped on the bed, grabbed the wand's hand stopping her from casting the spell, and stared at Louise from a few inches away, intimidating her. "Maybe I am not what you understand for a normal familiar, but I will help you in everything I can, even if it's against your will. I heard the mocks of your companions before I fell unconscious." He raised his voice. "And for the Kerenskys I will not let anyone else make fun of my master! I will make them respect you and know that my master is worthy of such respect even if I have to kill them all to achieve it!"

* * *

 **Ok, this is the end from now.**

 **I did a complete overhaul of the original text. The mind rape part didn't exist in the original (but I'll upload soon), so boys and girls you have, for a limited time, "exclusive content". And this scene will help me explaining some future events.**

* * *

 **Fenrisulven13: Welcome!** **It seems that now you read me instead of the opposite. I would never have thought it a few months ago. Life is strange. Well... he's a strange mix, part of his life in the original Wolfs and another part in the Wolf in Exile, sometimes he insult like Vlad did to Phellan sometimes don't. But of course he never say this about his Khan (and he met him in person, once). Also Phelan has Ward blood and born in an iron womb (her mother can't have children and the Wolf's Dragons helped her). So he is a little more trueborn than others freeborns.  
**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello again!**

 **I must thank again again Poliamida for his help.**

 **If someone is following both versions of the story he will surely have noticed that I have merged chapter 3 and 4 in the original story in this chapter because I think that the start of the original story was to fragmented.**

 **I own none of the franchises that appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.**

* * *

Louise was lying on the bed unable to sleep. Kyle, for his part, was lying on the floor on a blanket that he had brought from the golem, and seemed to have fallen asleep instantly. She turned and she could see him. Dressed in the strange one-piece suit that he had been wearing when he came out of the head of his gol... What had he called it? It didn't matter, only the sturdy boots and that vest full of wires were missing, now neatly folded on the table along with some other of the boy's belongings.

What had he meant by keeping them from making fun of her? And killing them all? She hoped he would not cause her more problems, that it was just an exaggeration. She already had problems ordering him to change her clothes, so many and so unpleasant that she had preferred to undress herself...

...with Kyle waiting outside.

* * *

Kyle woke up after a short rest. His master still dozing, he decided not to disobey her previous orders about waking her up, and so he prepared something for the time she had demanded. Looking out of the window he calculated how much time was left and set an alarm on his pocket computer, also enabling a visual reference so that even someone with no knowledge of technology knew what to do. After doing this, he decided to begin his calisthenics and physical training exercises in the academy's courtyard. After stretching he continued with a light run. At least it was a relief to get rid of the Dust Bowl's low gravity. In that rock, if someone neglected their exercises they would suffer muscular atrophy. He ran around the main building trying to forget his bizarre and desperate situation. Although he had a Battlemech with him, the one assigned during an exercise in asymmetric warfare proposed by the instructors of the Kell Hounds, over time it would malfunction, and without access to spare parts it wouldn't last long. He would try to do some basic maintenance, but it wouldn't be enough. He would eventually become a footman, or worse, a servant.

"Uh, excuse me" Kyle stopped and saw a girl of around his age, with black hair and generous curves contained in a slender body that reminded him of Grana, without her deranged smile, dressed as a maid. "Are you Miss de la Vallière's familiar?"

" _Aff_ , that is right. Who are you?"

"Siesta, my name is Siesta of Tarbes." The maid said smiling.

"Mine is Kyle of the Wolf-in-Exile. Do you want something, Siesta of Tarbes?"

"No, it's just that I heard rumors about the lady's familiar and I was curious. Uh! Did you torn your clothes?" She asked pointing at his shoulder.

" _Neg_ , my clan patch there. As master Louise's bondsman I decided to take it off, but it can be easily attached and detached with the Velcro." The girl didn't understand that last word but chose not to bother the boy with questions about his strange clothes.

"I understand it. It must be hard being detached from all what you knew. You are very brave confronting all this with that determination."

"I am bound to do it. I may be a bondsman, but I must honor my old and new clans, doing less would cover me of shame and disgrace."

"You remind me of my father with your way of talking."

"Your father?" He asked puzzled.

"Yes, as my mother told me before I left to come work here, he was a warrior, maybe a foreign mercenary, already very old, who arrived in my hometown, Tarbes, about twenty years ago. He was wounded and got healed in the village. Once he got better, in gratitude he helped the villagers in the heaviest tasks. He was very strong despite his age! My maternal grandfather said that as much as two men. A couple of years later he married a widow woman much younger than him and, well... I am here." She said pointing to her timidly. "I always saw him as a very old man, but full of strength smiling all the time. He said we were his _greatest claim_. I never fully understood that."

"You speak in past tense."

"I had to work here because we needed money. He always worked hard, supporting us and giving us a good life by selling exotic stuff to the nobles, but he disappeared almost ten years ago one night during a bandit raid on our village, he left us in the care of some neighbors and went to fight them." She lowered her face. "We never found his body-" Kyle put a hand on her shoulder.

"If he died trying to protect his new home and his _greatest claim_ , you must be proud. It would have been an honor to meet him." Siesta smiled and Kyle mimicked. That he was trapped in this weird world full of madness didn't mean that he couldn't try meeting the staff members, if he was going to be a bondsman he would surely be dealing with them often. "Thank you so much for talking to me, Siesta. But I must continue my exercises before my master wakes up. However, if you wish, we can speak another time when our obligations do not stand in our way."

"That would be great! I would love it, Mister Kyle."

"Kyle, please... I am not a Mister. Maybe I will ask you to tell me some stories about your father later." There was something that caught his eye about the maid, but he wasn't sure what.

"I would love to tell you M- Kyle."

* * *

An insistent beeping noise woke Louise up, she tried fumbling for the source of the sound but she couldn't find it. She covered her head with the pillow trying to ignore it, but the noise continued piercing her skull. At the end she straightened up annoyed, searching for the source of that torture. She found on the table a flattened object with one of its surfaces made of something similar to glass, on it flashed an enormous red circle that trembled to the rhythm of the beeps. She touched the circle, with some fear, wondering what kind of magic was and the annoying noise stopped. _Such a torture device._

Then she looked around in confusion, Kyle's blanket was folded exquisitely on the table and some of his things were missing. But others, like the vest, were still there. Where was he? After all the shown with that with the cord, the oath, and the bondsman thing could he have left her?

She turned to the window checking if his golem was still there, but as she looked out she saw the boy lying on the floor, near to his golem, doing push-ups while carrying something on his back. He had removed the top of his clothes, tying it around his waist. Several students, already awake, stared at him. Kyle started doing push-ups with only his right arm not even acknowledging the stares. Louise didn't remember any of the men-at-arms of house de la Vallière ever doing such aggressive exercise, even when her mother inspected them during their training. What kind of warriors were the members of the Clans if that boy behaved that way?

Louise got dressed and went down to call her familiar for breakfast, assuming he knew what breakfast was... or something.

At the courtyard, she saw that what he carried on his back was a heavy stone, maybe fifteen pounds. Of course, even without his golem, he looks like a strong familiar. Then he noticed the scars on his back, it seemed that someone had lashed him with a whip many times, he also had a strange scar on his right side under his armpit. As if something big with claws had wanted to tear the skin off the area. It looked creepy, the skin there was soft but at the same time impossibly pale. She could see the veins underneath, as if someone had replaced the ripped skin using a piece of white silk.

"You- you- familiar," She began.

"What did I say about the voice?" He replied, still going up and down.

"Familiar!" Kyle stopped, turned around dropping the stone to the ground, sat on the lawn and crossed his legs while looking at the girl with a calm smile.

"Do you want something, master?"

"What're you doing?"

"Exercises, master. I must keep fit and sharp. Otherwise, I will not be able to face any danger that might threaten you".

"I- I thought you'd fight with that." She said pointing at the mech.

"I am a mechwarrior cadet, but there are places where I cannot use my machine and I will be using whatever I have at hand, or even my bare hands." He said raising his fists.

"I get it. You are a warrior among yours."

He shook his head. " _Neg_ , I was training for it, but our instructors made clear that we would not be one until we passed our Trial of Position. Despite being so far away from them I would not dare to challenge their teachings." Louise rolled her eyes dropping the subject.

"In the Clans, do you have breakfast?"

" _Aff_ , master." He said getting up and putting the clothes correctly.

"Af?"

"Affirmative, master." He said finishing his preparations. "Although I need to clean up myself first." He said pointing at the main building. Louise nodded wearily.

At the Alviss Dining Hall, Kyle didn't complain about the food, he would have to search for something else later, but it wasn't the first time that he was subjected to such treatment. He especially remembered those two weeks they (Kyle, Grana and Viter) survived on reduced rations because they weren't able to bring an "alternative source of food" because of the special vigilance that the instructor Selvin put on them for the time... a lot of time. He devoured his rations as if it was the last food dish on the surface of that backward world, not caring for being on the floor. While he was eating, he scanned the faces of everyone present and classifying his expressions, searching if anyone looked at Louise in a strange or aggressive way.

"Well, at least it seems that your familiar has a good appetite, Louise." Kyle raised his head and found two girls approaching. One was the busty redhead from the day before, the other was the blue haired girl with the staff that threw him on the ground. Because of the new information he had from his master about this "magical" world, he deduced that the last one was the responsible for it. He rose quickly to stand next to Louise. "Oh, that's formal! At least he seems like today you have him more tamed, not like yesterday."

"Kirche, what do you want?" Louise was pissed.

"Oh, come on Louise! I just wanted to see your familiar, now that he's less aggressive. Do you know that the hot topic is him and that he knocked-out both Guiche and professor Colbert?"

"Get lost, Zerbst!" Louise said angrily.

"No, seriously, he looks so strong and handsome! For a commoner." She said winking at him. Kyle noticed her, she wore the same uniform as Louise, but unlike his master's blouse Kirche's one could barely hide the girl's chest that threatened with spilling over the pronounced cleavage. She also wore light brown boots with an edging on the front, and the same short skirt that Louise wore. The blue-haired girl with glasses was even thinner than Louise, flat as if she was a boy, but Kyle suspected that his pectorals were bigger than hers. She wore white stockings instead of the boots of her friend.

"I am not a commoner." Kyle said again. "I above your neo-barbarian class system. I am a Trueborn of the Clan Wolf in Exile. Breed from the lineage of General Kerensky himself."

"Are you a general's son?" Both girls opened their eyes wide, the one with blue hair blinking at the boy for a second.

" _Neg_ , the General, the Father of the Clans, died almost three hundred years ago, but his bloodline has continued giving us warriors without paragon. I have the honor of one being of his descendants, alas, I am not worthy."Kirche looked at Louise.

"You can't deny that he's exotic, Vallière. I summoned this instead." She waved her wand and a huge red lizard suddenly appeared. Kyle unconsciously raised his hand to his holster. "This is Flame, a fire salamander..."

"It is burning." Kyle said looking at the flame in its tail.

"Or course." She said raising her voice and smiling. "It is an F-I-R-E Salamander, if it didn't have these flame in its tail it wouldn't be called that. You don't have animals like these in your country?"

"Animals that can burn themselves without dying? _Neg_ , the closest thing to a familiar that I have seen were some domesticated flying reptiles in the Inner Sphere, and maybe the Mantiroack Goliat."

"How so?"

"They exist on some planets. Normally they are around two times the size of a regular human, with a thick exoskeleton, four arms ending in claws, and capable of spitting acid. But some specimens managed to reach more than twelve meters in height, being a danger even to a battlemech like mine. I heard about them from the stories that a Solahma warrior told us about how he-"

"There you are, you fiend! "A voice behind them made them turn. It was Guiche, the boy Kyle had knocked out cold the day before, visibly furious and with bandages on his face. "Damned commoner! You used a dirty trick and you humiliated me!"

"Guiche, I'm sorry!" Louise said. "My familiar will apolog-"

"Shut up you too! Last night you attacked me with one of those damn explosions of yours in the infirmary! You will always be Louise the Zero even if you managed to deceive us with this farce!" He pointed at Kyle.

Kyle approached Guiche, who took a rose out of his tunic and was wielding it in front of him. The wolf raised an eyebrow.

"Stop! I will not let you treacherously attack me again, filthy peasant! Moreover, I deserve a retribution..."

"I am not a commoner, I am a Trueborn of the clans, but if you want a retribution you are very lucky." He stepped forward and pointed to the boy. "I demand you a Trial of Grievance against the words you have thrown at my master!" Guiche gaped at that.

"A trial? Are you crazy commoner? A royal prosecutor would never want to rep-"

"As challenger, I am entitled according to the rules of the clans to choose the weapons, and you, as the challenged, to name the battlefield."

"Weapons? In a trial?" Asked Kirche.

"No trial. Combat." Said Tabitha, Kyle nodded.

" _Aff_ , the trial is a combat. If I win he will have to retract everything he had said about my master.

"I was going to challenge you myself before." He said still trying to recover from the surprise.

"Your loss, freebirth. The weak and the hesitant that lose their opportunities to attack are attacked and devoured in turn. You should learn soon or you will not last long, _stravag_." He said with a wolfish smile. "I choose a non-augmented combat, without weapons but our hands. Where will we fight?" He waved his arms around the room. "Right here? It is a closed place and with a lot of obstacles, it would be a very interesting combat."

"No ... I don't want to stain this respectable room with your insolent blood, we will face in the Vestri Court. If you don't decide to give up and flee. I would understand you if you did, commoner." Kyle burst out laughing in Guiche's face.

"I will make you swallow those words, let's go to that place and I will teach you how a Wolf hunts his prey."

* * *

Louise grabbed Kyle by the arm trying to pull him in the opposite direction to which he was heading. Unfortunately for her, the boy kept walking in the same direction dragging her behind him.

"What are you doing? You can't defeat a noble." She said trying to stop him.

"Why? I beat him before, dizzy, disoriented and with a single blow." He said without looking at her.

"No commoner can win in a fight against a noble if he takes it seriously!"

"And a presumptuous freeborn with no experience in combat can never defeat a Trueborn!" He said freeing his arm with a jerk. "Or even a trained freeborn warrior."

"I forbid you!" Kyle turned around and brought his face to hers.

 **'Obey.'** Kyle felt a slight discomfort, but gritted his teeth and continued.

"You do remember that I told you I would help you, even against your will, _quiaff_? This is one of those times." He turned and left the girl standing there.

"But-"

"That voice." He said following Guiche. " _Neg_ , it does not matter, I will simply do it. Once it is over you will understand."

Louise was silent behind, she didn't understand the boy, it seemed as being a noble meant nothing to him. The only thing he cared for were those rare terms 'freeborn' and 'trueborn', whatever they meant.

"I don't want you to die!" She said abruptly, he was her only succeeds so far.

"I will not" He answered confidently.

* * *

Mr. Osmond looked at the magic mirror, which showed Miss de la Vallière's familiar and the General Gramont's son.

"It seems that we have a disturbance at the Vestri Court."

"We should stop them with the sleeping bell." The professor Colbert was next to him and looking worried. The old mage raised his eyebrows.

"Why should we?"

"It's dangerous! A commoner against a noble isn't fair."

"Oh, come on, Colbert! You don't remember that this commoner already knocked out that boy and yourself yesterday?" Colbert frowned.

"But-"

"Look, after what you told me about his runes I have an idea. I bet 100 ecus on Miss de La Vallière's familiar." He said in a playful tone.

"How can you suggest betting now?" The teacher showed something between shock and surprise.

"You're too serious, Colbert."

"But if I wasn't wrong with those runes, that boy could be part of the most important event in Tris- Halkeginia in centuries! If Guiche hurts him-"

"You should calm down and watch, I think that boy is going to give you a surprise."

"Besides, Mr. Osmond... shouldn't we contact the palace to inform them about-?" Osmond, despite his age, almost bounced off his chair when he heard this.

"We can't allow any of those leeches that take advantage of the royal family to take advantage of the boy and his master too!"

"Uh-" Colbert was surprised at the old man's outburst.

"You know I'm right."

"True, Mr. Osmond, but the duel still-"

"Silence! I think it's going to start." The old man said rubbing his hands with certain joy.

* * *

Guiche adopted another of his poses as he looked at the commoner who had challenged him. It was going to be fun and he could even catch the attention of some girls.

"I admit you're brave, peasant"

"And I admit that you do not have brains, freebirth. We will fight to the death, or do we would accept surrender?" A chorus of exclamations sounded among the public. Louise looked at her familiar in horror.

"Uh- you have a spine, familiar, but I'm a fair noble, if you give up and apologize properly I will forgive your life."

Kyle smiled. "Then we can begin." Kyle started speaking with an archaic and ceremonial-like accent. "I am Kyle of the Clan Wolf in Exile, bellowing from the bloodline of the General Kerensky the Father of the Clans. I have seen 16 years so far, at the age of 14 I kill a dezgra Elemental of the Steel Vipers in full power armor. I have been called _ristar_ in my sibko since I began to train myself to become a warrior. And now I have been taken as familiar and bondsman of Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière." Several students began to whisper when they learned that he had killed an elemental. Louise watched the scene trying not to suffer a seizure, how could a commoner kill an elemental spirit? At the age of 14, not less! "I am just a wolf cub, but if the necessity arises I will kill my prey." He said pointing at Guiche, who gave him an awkward look. "And I challenged you to a non-augmented Trial of grievance against the fallacies you have laid upon my master!"

"Whatever you brute! I am Guiche de Gramont, son of the general of Gramont and as my affinity is earth, you'll fight against my Bronze Valkyries." He said, waving the artificial rose that he used as a wand, dropping a pair of petals that when they touched the ground transformed into empty armors with feminine forms.

"What, in the name of the eight hundred, is this?" Kyle roared. "I said a non-augmented combat. _Dezgra_! Do you have no honor?"

"Did you want to fight with your fists? How barbarian! I'm not going to lower myself so much. But if you think it's unfair you just have to give up, admit your mistake and apologize, maybe I would be in the mood and I would spare your life. Besides, my runic name is Guiche the Brass, so it's right that you face these Valkyries." Kyle clenched his fist, but he was determined to face and overcome his enemy, even in a _powless_ combat.

"After I finishing with them, I will continue with you." He said as he took the armored gloves from one of his pockets and put them on. "Let someone announce the start of the combat."

A plump, blond boy stepped forward and gestured with one of his arms to start. Kyle threw himself on the right golem giving it a very strong kick with the reinforced sole of his armoured boots, the golem endured the blow but its chest was dented. Kyle smiled. Even if they were brass, they had a thin armor to make then fast but hard enough to overpower a "lowly peasant", they could do nothing against a durallex reinforced boots.

The other launched itself on Kyle, but he threw himself on the ground, rolled on his back and jumped to his feet, ready give it a spinning kick to the head that made the helmet fly away, causing the rest to crumble and leaving the spear behind. Kyle lunged at it as he deflected the remaining golem's attack with the armored glove. When he reached the spear, he wielded it over his head, and at that moment he felt as if he had been carrying this weapon all his life, as if it were an extension of his own body. With a skill he didn't recognize, he used the weapon to pierce through the body of the second golem in a fluid motion.

Guiche summoned four golems more, only to watch as Kyle wreck them, one by one, with an ease that made it look as if he was dancing.

He finally summoned six. But before the last one finished materializing, it had the spear stuck in its chest. Then the young wolf turned on himself, launching the magical construction against its companions. Then he pounced on Guiche, passing through the remaining golems like a spear, striking him with his own chest as he held his lance behind him. The blond felt as if a stone wall had been thrown over him when both solar plexus collides. He fell back on the ground and let go of his rose-wand, leaving his golems inert. When he opened his eyes to find it, he found that Kyle had also released his spear and was now seated on his stomach, holding Guiche by the neck with his right hand while the other was lifted, ready to strike his face.

"Say it."

"I- I- I surrender-" Kyle punched him, blood began to come from the nose. Several girls in the crowd let out a stifled shriek.

"That one was a soft punch. I do not want to hear that, it is clear that you cannot win, you have an interesting power but you do not know how to use it. I want you to retract right now or I will break all your teeth, and keep doing so for as long as is necessary."

"I don't understand what you want me to sa-" Another blow made him turn his head. Although stronger, Kyle was trying to keep him conscious, otherwise all his efforts would go to waste.

"Retract yourself from what you told to my master. These are reinforced anti-shrapnel gloves made of durallex, the same armor used on my mech, your jaw will break long before they even dent."

"I- I retract myself- please- I won't call- Louise- Zero again." Kyle pushed his left arm even farther back to give him a stronger punch.

"Never again? Answer, _stravag_!"

"Never- again- I swear- "

"Good." He said lowering his left arm and standing, forcing the noble to stand up with him. Kyle searched around him and found a sword dropped by one of the immobile golems. Dragging the mage's throat even further, he reached for it and picked it up. Suddenly he forced Guiche forward, releasing his neck and giving him a strong kick in the back in direction of Louise. When they approached, Kyle gave him a second kick, this time in the hamstring, that made the blonde fall on his knees in front of Louise. The young Wolf grabbed him by the hair and put the sword against the Guiche's neck to the horror of all.

"Now, repeat it!"

"I retract myself!"

"AGAIN!" He yelled.

"I RETRACT MYSELF!" Kyle drew the sword closer to his neck and looked at his master.

"Master, I request permission to terminate him right now. His dishonor stains this place." Louise gaped like a fish. "He disgraced himself by breaking the rules of combat, he deserves nothing else." The girl was horrified, Guiche was sobbing as he hold Kyle's left hand that was gripping his hair, trying to relieve the pressure. A dark spot on his pants began to grow.

"Release him!" She ordered.

"Master? He does not deserve to live, for an action like that in the clans a warrior should die together with his offspring and genetic legacy to avoid staining future generations!" Louise heard as someone behind her muttering something and a pair of girls began to cry.

"Release him now!"

" _Aff_ , master." Kyle released the boy. Then he looked at the congregation there, all eyes wide. "The trial is over, however if someone else wants to insult my master I am ready to challenge all of you here and now." The students looked at each other in confusion. "No one? Well, this issue is settled, I hope no one else dares insult her or I will have to take care of him, or her. The Clans do not distinguish between sexes when it comes to battle." Kyle drew his sword, throwing it furiously on the floor.

Kyle came out of the combat zone and headed for Louise.

"Master, I am sorry, I disobeyed your order of not fight him, I will accept any punishment you wish to impose upon me."

Louise tried to open her mouth to answer, but Kyle's gaze sharpened, paralyzing her momentarily. _The voice_. She told herself. She drew air and tried to sound as self-assured as possible.

"Familiar!" Even when she managed to say that with apparent confidence, she was about to fall apart. She managed to raise her voice in an adequate tone. "Follow me. Now!"

Kyle nodded slightly and smiled following his master.

* * *

Professor Colbert couldn't believe it. His knuckles were white on the sleeping bell because the force with which he had held it. Meanwhile, the old headmaster of the academy brushed his beard with his fingers pondering.

"Legends say that the _Gandálfr_ was able to handle any weapon by simply touching it with his hand. But that boy moved as if he knew how to fight before taking the lance. What do you think?" The Headmaster asked.

"It seems to me that Miss de la Vallière summoned a child soldier, but what nation would do such a thing? None in Halkeginia-"

"You say it, none in Halkeginia." The old man rubbed his chin. "We need to think about this. The golem where he arrived. What does your knowledge tell you about it?"

"It looks very mobile, fast for its size. Something of that mass should move slower. It looks like some kind of armored battle-golem"

"And doesn't it remind you of something you heard about before?" The old man continued with his games, but his face was serious.

"Uh... the Tales of the-" Colbert opened his eyes wide "No! It can't be!"

"But it can, Colbert. Because you checked it yourself. You said that this golem has something alike a ship's wheel inside of its head."

"No, I didn't say that, but... somehow it seemed to me that these levers worked in the same fashion." Colbert began to fell a slight headache forming at the back of his head. "So... a piloted Guardian?"

"Maybe... in two days the mail courier will arrive at the academy. Try to stop any letter with descriptions of that golem leaving the Academy." Osmond frowned. "This is the last thing we need now"

"We can't hold the student's letters back for much time."

"I know, but we need some time to think." He reached for his smoking pipe and began preparing it. "If he has piloted Guardians in his country... It may be a land in war, a vicious one at that. That's why they have child soldiers. Child soldiers driven by some kind of draconian honor code. I'm intrigued about how he'll cope with this relatively peaceful environment now... and by the way Colbert, you owe me 100 ecus."

"I didn't bet anything!"

"Spoilsport."

* * *

 **You see boys, Kyle punched Guiche two times at the same price!**

 **Verfolger: I do not think many other clans will take it better than a Wolf. But Yes you have reason, to much Wolves... Hehehe!  
**

 **ArtyomXIII: Wish fulfilled**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello boys**

 **Sorry for the delay, RL attacks hard this time, including home reforms, an explosion, a block in the original fic and others things.**

 **Also I want to give my thanks to my betas, Poliamida and now Tabac Iberez from Spacebattles.**

 **Thanks to Tabac Iberez now I have the first chapter corrected so if you want check it again.**

 **I own none of the franchises that appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.**

* * *

Turning on a corner, now away from Vestri Court, Louise placed a hand on the wall and felt herself collapsing.

"Master?" Said the boy, trying to hold her in case she passed out.

"Wh-wh-what the hell is wrong with you?" She said turning and slapping his face. "I-I commanded you not to fight Guiche! Now the whole world will- will think that I have a violent familiar who doesn't obey me."

"That is true." He said, undisturbed by the slap. "I am a member of the Clans, a Wolf in Exile. I was created to fight, for nothing other than war."

"A-a-and that's the other weird thing! You don't stop talking about the clans, that you are a trueborn, and other things that I don't understand!"

"Do you wish for an explanation?" Kyle asked. Louise tried to calm herself taking a deep breath.

"Who- no, what are you? Where did such a familiar like you come from?"

The boy pondered for a second. "I would prefer going to a more comfortable place first. It will take a lot of time, too many centuries and concepts to explain you, master."

"Cen- centuries!?"

" _Aff_. However, I would need my datapad to suitably show you everything, master." Kyle rubbed his chin. "I think I still have this Tamar's ROM recordings." He had used some recordings of actual battles to try and learn more tactics, or at least try to put himself in the mind of a real commander.

"Let's go to the main courtyard. I need some refreshment and ease my mind. Then bring that 'data thing'." Louise said, voice still shaking.

Louise sat on one of the tables, ordering Kyle to bring her some tea. He obeyed after demanding firmer tone from her, twice. After getting her the tea, he asked permission to sit down too and began the explanation.

* * *

Louise listened as her familiar told her about a place where humans lived and died without magic, in a vast universe of planets and worlds colonized by humans. Their nobles had no magic, but did possess military power, money, and land. In those worlds, the war was a constant since a huge multi-planetary organization had been destroyed by a greedy man, erasing in the process everything that had made that civilization great and advanced. She saw on the screen of the boy's datapad the incredible achievements of this huge civilization, burning and collapsed under the feet of golems similar, and sometimes scarier, than his familiar's golem.

He also told her how a general, disgusted by what was happening, picked up the remains of this civilization and took them to the uncharted borders of space. There he tried to found a new one, free from the terror that had been unleashed among the other kingdoms, although, he failed. The old feuds carved the new civilization and the war finally comes, even before the demise of the general. Finally, she heard about the rising of the Clans in its place, a warrior society where soldiers weren't recruited, but created artificially to be the best in such endless war. How the general's son, a Kyle's ancestor, engineered a whole society around the war.

"Y-y-y-you have to be lying to me! You say that you were born from a metal tube? That's- that's preposterous!"

"Neg master, I was really born from an _iron womb_ , as we called it, like the rest of my sibko partners."

"You don't have a mother?"

" _Neg_ , at least not in the same way as a freeborns do. I know that the warrior who gave her genet-" He hesitated. "eggs for my creation was from the Kerensky bloodline, like the Father and the Founder of the Clans."

"Bu-but - are you human?" Kyle smiles at that.

" _Aff_ , many cubs fail in their tests and trials and end up becoming members of lower castes. In many cases, they join a freeborn or another failed trueborn and have a family. If we were not human beings, this would not be possible."

"How?"

"How what?"

Louise tried to ask again, this time better. "How can you be born from a metal tube?"

"The same way that we can have datapads, battlemechs or jumpships. With advanced technology." He replied with a smile.

"Technology can't do that."

" _Aff_ , it can. My battlemech and I are the proofs." He looked at the datapad too. "All of this is the proof."

Louise covered her face with her hands for a second, trying to digest all that revelation. Finally, she dropped the subject.

"Ok. What about those elementals you spoke about? Are they humans too?"

" _Aff_ , they are the armored infantry of the clans. They are also human, with a size and muscle mass beyond that of a regular freeborn. But they can also... procreate with them." He said visibly uncomfortable. Sex wasn't uncommon for him, but the act of natural procreation was foreign to Kyle.

"And that words, freeborn and trueborn. I saw you using them as insults and exclamations."

"Freeborn designate those who were not born as Trueborn, outside of the warrior caste and without using an _iron womb_."

"Freebirth?"

"Is an epithet used by Trueborns, especially against others, as a term of disgust or frustration."

" _Stravag_?"

"It is basically the same, but only as an insult." Louise signed.

"This is going to be hard, my familiar isn't of this world, but a human created for war on another world- worlds, that fight with those metal golems-"

"Battlemechs"

"Whatever! How many do you have?" Louise yelled in frustration

"Between the Clans, successor states, minor nations, ComStar, and pirates, it is difficult to say. What I can tell you is that, when we reached the Inner Sphere, one of the best-armed kingdoms had more than sixteen thousand." Louise stood up, letting the chair fall to the floor.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!" She screamed, drafting all the people around in attention.

"Something wrong, master?"

"A-are you saying that- that you have sixteen thousand things like those?" She pointed in the general direction of the Kyle's _Pack Hunter_. Some of the people around who heard her statement shook in terror. An army, a grand army, made out of such fierce war golemns? It would be neigh-unkillable!

" _Neg_ , the Clans have fewer machines but of better quality. In addition, of those sixteen thousand many were lost during the war against the Clans. However, that is only one nation among many, and all kept to build a large number of them. Possibly among those built in the Inner Sphere, and the Clans, the total doubles that number easily. Although that mine a light mech, just thirty tons, the most powerful ones weigh up to a hundred tons, and there have always been rumors that the Star League wanted to create even bigger machines."

"Bigger... one hundred..." This was more than three times the mass of Kyle's golem.

"Aff, they are called assault battlemechs. Some have an armor so thick, that just the plates weight as much as my whole machine." Louise sat down in the chair again, that one of the servants had sneaky put it back into place, dropping heavily like a rock.

"Drat! And I thought that the armies of Gallia and Germania were powerful."

"It is normal for you to be amazed. Your world must have fallen into chaos centuries ago and receded to this level of technology. You must be fifteen hundred years behind us in technology." Louise rubbed her foreheads, she was having a strong headache. What his familiar said could be almost blasphemous, but the images of Kyle's pocket machine and his golem, or Mech or whatever, supported what the boy was saying. _Better to drop the subject for now, I couldn't cope it for the moment._

"If one of those Jumpships arrived here, what would happen?" Kyle remained thoughtful for a moment before answering.

"It is hard to say, master. Everything depends on what faction arrives, and what kind of resources this world has." He rubbed his chin. "If they were pirates they would raid the greater population centers to plunder them every few years. They would attack with few old and poorly maintained mechs, supported by combat vehicles and regular infantry. They would take everything that is not bolted on the floor: gold, jewels, mineral, food, water-" He frowned. "Normally they would also capture slaves, especially among the people with better technical preparation to force them to maintain their machines. But due to the technological nature of this world, they would take mainly strong slaves as basic labor force and- women." Louise stared in disbelief.

"Slaves? You have slaves? In Halkeginia we abandoned that barbaric practice long ago."

"Piracy runs rampant in the Periphery, these lands are abandoned by civilization."

"But- your- I mean your cord-" She hesitated now, realizing that maybe she had her familiar as a slave.

"A bondsman is not a slave!" He shouted, angry with her insinuation. "This is not the same! It is an honor that another warrior judges you worthy and decides to take you as a personal isorla. In some cases, a bondsman who demonstrates his worth can gain freedom, whether in his former clan or being admitted as a member of his master's clan. A slave is a slave until he dies, or if he is lucky and live enough, until the destruction of the pirate den."

"Sorry. I don't-"

"It does not matter. I imagine that your intention was not to disrespect my traditions. At least I hope so."

"We have ours, and my father taught me to respect traditions."

"A wise progenitor." She smiled a bit.

"And... if one of yours ships came here?"

"It depends on the Clan that comes. In the worst case, if a Crusader clan appears, they could judge this world as a failed colony. If they found something valuable, like resources, lostech (if there is any here), or this planet would be a good place for a HPG generator, an outpost, a recharge station, or other things, they will invade the planet. If this happens, if they want something from this world, their commander will bid to gain the right to conquer the planet."

"Bid?"

"The Clans do not attack with all of our available forces. After studying how many enemy forces we will facing on the surface, the commanders will bet on how many force they are willing to use in the attack. The commander who bids the lesser amount of forces wins the bid and gains the privilege to attack. A good commander knows how to attack without wasting troops. However, if a Warden Clan comes, it is possible, at least if the Clan was mine, that they do not attack."

"Why?"

"Some Warden Clans think that we lost the right to reclaim the former worlds of the Star League the moment we abandoned it. Some wardens may conquer the planet, but the population's treatment will be more benevolent. In our case, my clan may even try not to conquer your planet."

* * *

Louise returned to her room still in deep thought. Kyle had asked for her permission to move the _Pack Hunter_ and put it in a better position to stay in the academy's yard. As she walked she heard the rumbling of its footsteps and turned. Kyle moved that machine as if it were a real living thing, he seemed to have a lot of skill with it. Just as he left the mech parked beside one of the walls, Louise lost interest and returned to her room.

As she entered her room, she was still thinking about what her familiar had told her. A civilization millennia ahead of them, nobles without powers, thousands of planets full of humans, wars that ended the life of millions and hundreds of millions. Thousands and thousands of war machines faced in combat. Perhaps it was better that Halkeginia was technologically backward. If the superior technology and knowledge led to that, better to ignore it.

And that was not the worst! The worst was that she almost believed him, after seeing the machine that had been brought along with her familiar, and the images of that square object that he had called datapad. There was no magic in their world capable of creating that. If that was true, it clashed with the Church's belief, something that placed her in an uncomfortable position.

She didn't know what to believe, she wanted to believe that the Church was right, but what her familiar had shown was exactly the opposite. Could her world possibly be a lost colony of the humongous civilization from which Kyle came? If the Church, or worse, the Inquisition, discovered where her familiar came from, both would be in trouble. She had to talk to him, prevent Kyle from telling that story to more people, for their sake.

Would it have been so difficult to summon a dragon or a griffin? She wondered full of frustration.

She looked over the objects and devices that her familiar had left on the table. One of then looked like a flintlock-less blocky pistol. He must have left it there when he went to take the vest, since she remembered to have seen it at his waist at all times. It was heavy, ugly and with a menacing presence. She touched its grip, wishing to push it to the edge of the table to make it disappear, figuratively. At that moment Kyle came in, his jumpsuit sleeves still knotted at his waist and his cooling vest on. Louise quickly withdrew her hand.

"It is a KT-90 machine pistol, fires 3 mm explosive-expansive bullets." He said taking it and putting it in the holster that was on the table too, then removed his cooling vest. "You should not manipulate it without me being present, master. It is dangerous if you do not have training."

"Is it loaded?"

" _Aff_ , but the safeties are on. However, master, I recommend that you do not manipulate it. Even a single shot in one leg can be very serious. Every bullet is composed of 3 mm slivers of soft metal and high-velocity explosives that balloon on impact into miniature, tissue-destroying, suns. With your size, a girl of fourteen years like you, could lose an arm or a leg with a single shot." Kyle heard a sound like a soft but angry growl. He turned to the source and find out the girl glaring at him gritting her teeth.

"Fo- four- fourteen years?" She went to her bedside table, opened a drawer and pulled out a horse crop. "You- you filthy dog!"

She began to hit Kyle with the crop, on his face, on his arms and on his torso with all her fury. Kyle backed off at the start, but then he put himself in a rest position receiving the blows, barely undeterred by them. After some blows, Louise stopped panting. Although Kyle has some marks on his body and even he bleeds by a hit on his shoulder, he hadn't complained or avoided the blows.

He looked at her. "Some-something wrong, master?"

"Doesn't it hurt you?"

" _Aff_."

"Then, why don't you act like it does?"

"At the age of twelve, I had an instructor who argued that to improve our resistance he had to beat us with a whip." Louise remembered the marks in his back. "Unfortunately, it was only an excuse to level his rage for ceasing to be an active warrior. There was an investigation only after the dead of the eighth cadet." Louise notices the hard expression of her familiar.

"Founder!"

"He said if we did not scream he would 'lease the lesson', so I learned to ignore physical punishment." Louise looked at the boy horrified. "Although I would like to know why I deserve this punishment."

"I'm sixteen years old!"

" _Freebirth_! Are you almost my age?" Kyle looked at the tiny girl.

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen- I think."

"Y- yo- you seem older."

"As I said before, master, I was created and raised to be a warrior of the Clans. If you had been raised in a sibko your physical appearance would be very different. For your build, minus the size of your skull, you would be ideal as aerospace pilot. However, you would need to strengthen yourself physically so that your heart system could withstand the high-G maneuvers of a fighter."

"I'd rather not be."

" _Aff_ , master."

A couple of knocks on the door interrupted them. Moments later Kirche stormed into the room while Tabitha, the blue-haired girl stood at the door reading a book.

"HI!" She said entering blithely. "We came to see the champion!"

"Zerbst! What are you doing here?" Louise's teeth clenched.

"Me?" She put her hand over her cleavage. "I just told you." She said hugging one of Kyle's arms. "It's not fair that you keep him only for yourself. Oh-!" She noticed the boy's wounds and then the horse crop in Louise's hands. "You're a monster, Zero!" Kyle grabbed her by the wrist, forcing Kirche to release him.

"Retract right now!" Kyle's voice was firm.

"What?" Kirche said trying unsuccessfully to get out of his grip.

"What you called my master, retract your words." Louise smiled.

"Yeah, Zerbst. Do you have something to tell me?" Louise at least had to admit that her familar's zero-tolerance to mock was something she could appreciate.

"Okay! Okay! I retract them!" Kyle released his grip. As he did, Kirche faced the boy, putting her face very close to him, and planting her breasts on top of his chest, still uncovered as Kyle had removed his cooling vest. "That's not the way to treat a lady!"

"So he has done well, Kirche" Louise said with a pleased tone. The redhead turned to face her.

"Anyway, you should leave, Louise." She said gesturing with one hand as she grabbed Kyle's arm again. "I want to be alone with my sweetheart." Louise bounced at that.

"WHAT? What are you talking about? You germanian cow!"

"I'm in love." She said caressing Kyle's naked torso with her hand. Realizing the old scars he had. "Louise, you're a horrible person! How could you give him these scars?" Louise felt a little embarrassed by the redhead's foolishness.

"Those scars are old, there's no way I could make them." Even Kyle seemed a bit uncomfortable with the germanian's silly statement.

"My master is right. These wounds were inflicted during my training." Then he pointed to the strange wound on his side. "This was made by an Elemental's battle claw just before I managed to shoot him in the visor with a needle-gun. The skin tone is clearer due to the artificial skin that the doctors transplant me after the operation to rebuild my broken ribs."

Kirche gloated. "And do tell, my sweetheart. Are all yours peers as strong as you?"

"Er-" He hesitated because of the appellation she had given him. " _Neg_ , our aerospace pilots have a smaller frame to fit better in an aerospace fighter's cockpit, and the Elemental's phenotype has a bigger body with more muscle mass, strength, and endurance. My phenotype, the MechWarrior, is still stronger than the aerospace pilot but not as the elemental."

"Phenotype?"

"In the Clans, the warriors are created following this three genetic routes."

"UH!" Kirche's eyebrows rose slightly. "Created?"

" _Aff_ , I was created in an _Iron womb_ , combining two genetic samples of two bloodnamed warriors of our clan." Kirche still didn't understand.

"Zerbst, in his kingdom the warriors aren't born like us, they're created by alchemy inside metal tubes." Louise tried to simplify. Kirche looked indignantly at Louise as she fidgeted with her right hand.

"Stop talking nonsense, Louise. You can't create a human being with-" He looked at Kyle. Tabitha was looking at him curiously as well." Al- che- my."

" _Neg_ , you can not create a human being with alchemy. I was created using a technological method, using machines, in a metal tube with embryonic vital support called the _Iron womb_ , which replaced the woman's uterus."

"But you're human?" She asked in a small voice.

" _Aff_ , as I tell my master, I am totally human. The only difference is that my genetic material has been modified by eugenics to be a better fighter."

"And you were born from a metal tube? Motherless?"

" _Aff_ " A slight smile crossed the face of the germanian upon hearing that. "Losing for nine months a Bloonamed warrior for a pregnancy is not practical. In addition, if the warrior is very promising, it allows her to have several descendants simultaneously."

"How exotic!" She said holding on tightly the arm of the boy, who had to collect all his strength to continue to seem unaffected to the evident sexual innuendo of the Germanian. "I, Kirche Augusta Frederica Von Anhal Zerbst, also known as Kirche the Ardent, have had many lovers, but never one 'created'. And tell me, honey. In the midst of so much training to be a warrior, didn't you take the time to learn how to make a woman melt in your arms? Or is that with those tubes you don't need to know it? Because that would be a pity." She said putting her mouth near to Kyle's ear.

"If you refers to sexual's intercourse, I have been practicing it since I was thirteen."

"WHAT?" Louise and Kirche squeaked at once, while Tabitha adjusted her glasses and flipped a page out of her book.

"As I tell you, master, sibko's colleagues very often share experience, livings, training and all kinds of relationships."

"He beat me." Muttered the germanian.

"B- bu- but when you told me that- I thought you meant friendship, n- no- not that!" Louise said red to the ears, now the veiled threat of the other night had become much more concrete, her familiar had to be a kind of sexual predator.

"I am sorry I was not so explicit. I will correct that."

"D- Don't- I prefer- I prefer don't know these details."

"Understood master." He simply nooded.

"Typical of Louise." Said the germanian releasing the boy and shrugging. "She's still a prude."

"Zerbst!" She shrieked. Then he looked at Kyle. "Are you not going to make her withdraw that, too?"

"Master, during the training we were instructed to not oppose our superiors in front of other warriors, but also not to give them the reason in case they did not have it."

"Y- y- yo- you thankless dog!" She said with her face completely red and raising her wand above her head.

Outside, in the courtyard, someone saw an explosion in the Water tower.

* * *

 **MasterXMaster: Hehehe! You know nothing. Just wait a bit**

 **Fenrisulven13: It's curious that you enjoyed the Guiche's beating since you know don't know him form the original story. He is an asshole at the start of the light novel.**

 **No, they are figuring that the battlemech is some kind of magic-less equivalent of their magical constructs,. And this would give someone creeps, because in Halkeginia who has the magic has the power and who doesn't have it, obey. In fact if Guiche had killed Kyle Louise couldn't have complained. Because a commoner raising a weapon against a nobleman is a capital offense and the nobleman has every right to kill or punish him.**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


	5. Chapter 5

**Ok... how to explain myself? Ok- er... I think I can't explain why I didn't update this, things happened I lost momentum and other shit happened too. I'm so sorry. Good thing that already I have another chapter as buffer, and this one is, in fact, two chapters merged. I'm merging chapters for two reason: First, some of the original chapters are pretty sort. Second, I need to reduce the number of them because I have to split others because they are huuuuuge.**

 **Well, I'm pretty scared with this chapter, since when I wrote it I throw the lore conventions through the window.**

 **Also I want to give my thanks to my beta, Poliamida.**

 **I own none of the franchises that appear in this story. They belong to their respective owner and creators.**

* * *

Kyle stood at the door of the room sitting on a pile of straw. His master hadn't even allowed him to use his blanket, even though it belonged to him. Apart from the pain of the blows and the explosion, he was hungry. With all the mess with the Germanian girl, and the anger of his master, he hadn't been able to sneak out and find the kitchen and his master had punished him taking away lunch and dinner. And if that hadn't been enough, he had suffered another explosion in alchemy class when that obese instructor had asked Louise to transmute some rocks into a metal, brass to be more precise.

A really interesting power if done right, as this could be the way to recharge his Battlemech. What he needed was find a magician who could transmute water or air into hydrogen. Perhaps if another mage controlled the elements earth and fire, he could get new armor plates, even if they were pre-Star League or simpler rolled steel plates.

But all that was thought for later, that magician wouldn't be Louise unless he wanted to finish destroying his Battlemech since, as Louise's classmates had warned, the explosion she provoked knocked out the fat teacher and left the Classroom made a mess, forcing the young mage, and her unfortunate familiar, to clean it up. In fact, the loss of his dinner was due to the young wolf's idea that Louise should forget about her magic lessons and become soldier, a demolition expert to be more specific. Later she vented her frustration using her magic on him again.

Thinking about getting spare parts for his Mech he realized the actuators would be hard to get. He didn't believe that magic could create the precious polyacetylene fibers called myomers that propelled the machine. In their construction not only intervened advanced polymer synthesis' techniques but also bio-engineering due to the use of genetically modified bacteria needed for the creation of the precious material that so closely imitated the operation of real muscles.

But it was a start. If they could also transmute Endo Steel some other critical components would still be missing but would have better chances at maintaining his Mech for a few years more. But this was, like the myomer, still a daydreaming. Maybe if he sacrificed some mobility installing a heavier, and simple, skeleton. Still, the standard structure was made of an aluminum foam core wrapped in pre-stressed silicon carbide monofilaments and coated with a titanium shell, far too complex for a medieval mage. Even so, the Endo Steel was highly complex as it needed micro-gravity forging techniques for both the steel core and the aluminum and titanium foams.

What worried him even more was the main, and sole, weapon of his battlemech. The Clan-built ER PPC was a piece of weaponry with a higher reach, firepower, better weight-efficiency ratio, but similar heat-generation than its low-tech counterpart of the Inner Sphere. But a PCC, or Particle Projector Cannon. wasn't a simple weapon. Maybe with some mage's help he could repair an automatic cannon, even a missile launcher, but not an energy weapon. It was like a miniature particle accelerator that even some star nations were unable to produce, and so had to entrust their military muscle with 'simpler' energy weapons like lasers.

Kyle feared that when the PPC stopped working it would be better to remove it and install some less advanced weapon. Or none at all and rely on the melee attacks of his machine. Although the Clans despised the physical attacks, the boy understood that in the worst case that would be his only defense. He cursed the scientific caste member who had thought a battlemech with a single weapon was a good idea.

Kyle rubbed his face trying to focus on more immediate and real problems. He might have wanted to be the best possible bondsman for his master, his honor bounded him, but he felt very unhappy. He was obliged to give his 100%, but still would have preferred that girl had summoned a dragon, or a griffin, not him. He didn't know much about the fate he would have suffered in the Inner Sphere, perhaps he would have died the next day or would have become a bloodnamed warrior. But that was something he had been created and trained to do. He wasn't born to be the toy of a capricious teenager with a serious problem of self-esteem and a lot of badly channeled fury. That was something that was clear to him. But then, why did his head hurt thinking about it?

His stomach protested again, he should go search for the kitchen but he wasn't in the mood.

"Kyle?" He heard a voice. It was Siesta from the hall.

"Oh, good evening Siesta of Tarbes." He said getting up.

"What are you doing here?"

"Nothing. I have some... minor discrepancies with my mast-" A roar thundered in Kyle's stomach interrupting him. He felt a little embarrassed. Never, even when hungrier, had something like that happened to him.

"Ep! Didn't you eat?"

" _Neg_ , my master pu-" The girl grabbed him by the arm and pulled with a smile.

"Come with me, there's this place we could go."

* * *

In the kitchen, Kyle burped for the second time.

"It seems that 'Our fist' has a very good appetite." Said the chef, a big and broad man with a genuine smile on his face named Marco.

"Our fist?" Kyle asked as he lifted his head from the plate.

"You taught those pretentious nobles that the fist of a commoner can reach them despite their magic!" For a moment Kyle hesitated to explain again who -and what- he was but discard the idea out of pure exhaustion. In addition, having the admiration of the staff of the academy could help him. For now, he would eat today, and quite well. Apart from that, the nickname "Our Fist" suited him, more than his old nickname "Can Opener" that he won when managed to kill that elemental.

"This food is delicious, Chef Marto." The man smiled and smacked him on the back.

"I'm glad you tell me that, lad! Come whenever you want and I'll prepare dishes like these and better!"

"Plates like these?" He whispered almost to himself. "Hmm? Is something wrong, lad?"

" _Neg_ , only that now that I think about it, you are not the first to tell me that. I wonder if everything will be all right with him."

"Who are you talking about?"

"A free... a merchant, had a food establishment. Some members of my Sibko had whisked away some money and wanted to taste the food of the Inner Sphere.

 **[Flashback]**

"Damn _stravag_! You're going to give our position away." Kyle said.

"A member of the clans does not hide." Grana replied defiantly. "We should simply enter the establishment and demand that the owner feeds us."

"You have the brain of a Surat, Grana" Answered Viter. "The spheroids do not work like that." Miraculously, she didn't explode at that statement.

"They should"

"Maybe, but they do not work that way."

"They sho-"

"Oh, _stravags_! Be quiet!" Kyle said leaning against the wall of the alley. "We will keep to my plan. Apart from the fact that the merchant can refuse to serve us, there is the possibility of him calling the authorities."

"And what is the problem?"

" _And what is the problem?_ If they call the authorities and find three Wolf cubs dressed as freebirths outside Wolf City, what will they do? I will tell you: Contact the Clan, and you know what the instructors will do us when they find out, _quiaff_?" Viter broke out.

"But-"

"Silence! I am the operation's leader, _quiaff_?" Kyle said in his most commanding voice tone.

" _Aff_." They both said.

"In that case, listen to me and stop complaining. Do not speak unless they ask you explicitly. and if they do, wait for me to speak first. Do not use words like _aff_ , _neg_ , _quiaff_ , _quineg_ , or insults like _freebirths_ or _stravag_. Say yes and no, drop foul words like the spheroids-"

"Foul words?" Grana raised an eyebrow.

" _Aff_ , things like fuck, holy shit or asshole."

"I did not know you were talking spheroid."

"I do not speak, Viter, but I listen them." He pointed at his left ear with his thumb.

"Fuck!" Grana snapped. They both looked at her. "I was trying, it is barbaric."

"Exactly! Until we get out of there we are three teenagers of this barbaric civilization, _quiaff_?"

" _Aff_." They said again in unison.

" _Neg_ \- n- no, they're going to discover us. You should have said yes."

"And you should not have said _quiaff_." Viter retorted.

"You are right." He looked at the establishment. "There are hardly any people now, it is our best chance- okay?" He said with a forced smile.

"Yes." Said Viter with a better smile.

" _A_ \- yes." Grana was trying hard. "Yeah! Let's go you- damn- idiots."

The three disguised wolfs approached the premises, a place with a huge sign announcing the place as a bistro burger called 'Fine Old Connaught'. Kyle hurried himself to open the door and let his companions pass first, trying to avoid fights to enter first or something like that. He entered the last.

"Good afternoon, young customers!" Said a large man wearing an apron over his civilian clothes speaking with a strong liran accent. "Welcome to the best Old Connaught burger! Sit at that table there and I'll see you right away."

"T- thank you." The boys sat up unsteadily, picked up the menus, and began to scan them, trying not to look at them, or around, oddly.

"What is- what is Tofu?" Grana asked almost whispering.

"Read down, you idiot!" Viter said exultantly after having said his first profanity in spheroid. "It is a meat substitute."

"There is no meat on this planet? But we do have meat in our rati-"

"There is, but here it says that it is for vegetarians, people who only eat vegetables."

"I do not understand, being able to eat both-"

"That is the people in the-" Kyle almost says Inner Sphere. "That is the way people are, they have different tastes."

"We should use some contractions, we still sound off." Viter muttered.

"But-" Kyle raised a hand, to keep her quiet. The man was returning with a datapad in his hands.

"All good?" They nodded. "Great! Do you know what you want to drink?" They looked at each other for a moment.

"Water." The three of them answered almost in unison. Kyle bit his tongue at such a failure. The man looked at them for a moment confused, he had caught them, Kyle was sure. Then the waiter began to laugh.

"Wow! Such synchronization!" He wrote in the datapad. "Well, three bottles of water for the boys. Do you know what you want to eat or do I come back later?"

"Well- we have some questions" Kyle tried to sound relaxed.

"Go ahead."

"W- what's the Judith Cameron?" He asked puzzled by the name.

"Well, it's a hamburger with white quillar bread, bacon in fine crispy strips, two steaks of veal, but real veal no unnamed meat pieces like others restaurants will serve you, melted cheese, lettuce and chimichurri sauce. It's a recipe from Earth no less, although there it had another less catchy name. I would recommend you take the meat well done."

"I think i- it's fine with me." Kyle said. _From the earth? I have to try it_.

"I also want the same." Said Grana before having to keep getting dizzy with the menu.

"And for you?"

"I'll try the tofu one, the Melissa Steiner." His companions looked at him strangely. "I- I'm curious."

"Well said! Even if you are not a vegetarian, it can always be interesting to try new things." He said finishing and sending the order to the kitchen through the datapad. "You're not from around here, are you?"

" _N_ \- no" Kyle said, clenching the fist that was not in sight. "We are _astech_ apprentices, we arrived recently to this planet because our families were looking for work and here they seemed to need workers."

"Are you working for the Wolves?" Kyle stiffened in his seat.

"W- we- we are-"

"Not that I care, after all a job is a job. Although they took away all these people from the clans, you know, those they called castes, they seem to be willing to hire a lot of people to raise that fancy Wolf City. The only thing I can complain about is that they don't come here to eat, I'm sure that these Elementals eat a lot and I'd be pleased to deliver" Someone came through the door. "Sorry, I have to leave you, enjoy the food."

"Tha- thank you." Viter answered, followed by the other two. Then the three of them looked at each other in fear.

Grana was about to suggest to leave the place, it wasn't necessary for her to speak to understand what she wanted. And the worst part was that Kyle and Viter were about to concede, but they both stood their ground. After a couple of long and uncomfortably quiet minutes, a young boy came with the dishes and the drinks. He asked who had ordered tofu and put the dish in from of Viter when he answered, and then the others in front of Grana and Kyle.

"As he said, enjoy the food." Viter said as he dug into his hamburger. Then his eyes widened. "Ohhhh!"

"What happens?" Grana dropped her hamburger as if it was poisoned.

"Now I understand vegetarians! This is the best thing I have ever eaten!" Kyle bit into his own and felt as if an explosion of flavor had spilled all over his tongue. He chewed with joy and looked up to Grana.

"Eat."

"But-"

"Eat yours or I will eat it when I finish mine." He told her. The girl obeyed and took a small proving bite, then took a bigger one and then started chewing full-mouthed releasing the occasional moan of pleasure.

"Free- Fuck!" She said abruptly. "How can it be so good?"

"Because I use the best ingredients, not like those franchises that only give you bad and cheap meat. Assuming it's meat at all." Kyle and Grana bounced in their seats when the man's voice come out. Viter, who was more interested in his food and saw the man coming to them, didn't react. "I'm glad you like it. I don't know what you were eating back in your planets, but it seems that it wasn't very good."

"Yes... we ate food rations and military food. Our planet doesn't have an ecosystem to cultivate anything." Kyle said making a lie up on the fly.

"Blake's blood! That's horrible! I always say that the key to civilization is food. You can have the best Battlemechs, state of the art technology, or whatever you want, but if you don't feed your equals... well, nothing of that is worth anything." The man was shocked by the boys revelation/lie.

"Well, now you know where this place is, so If you need food I-" Four men entered the restaurant, all of them looking like gang members, or bandits if someone asked the boys. One of them, who looked to be the boss, had a scar crossing from the eye to the chin. Grana let out a slight snarl. She felt a certain predilection, some would say philia, for the scars. In fact the scar on Kyle's side was enough to arouse her at the sight of it, and she had given the boy not a few 'pleasant encounters' with her. "Oh- Boys, sorry, I have to go."

The man went out to meet the four and started arguing. Kyle missed the first moments of the argument because Grana grabbed his leg, dangerously close to the crotch while looking at the scar-faced man.

"You can leave this place now! I told you that I won't sell or close. "Kyle grabbed his partner's hand so she would release him and motioned to both of them, calling for their attention. "Tell your boss he has nothing to do here!"

"Chill out, old man! Yo' should be careful or yo'd give yourself a heart attack. Although I'm sure that yo' would have that anyway cause dis unhealthy shit yo' cook." One of the scarred man's cronies slapped a hamburger off the hands of a nearby client.

"Don't touch my customers!" The man tried to attack the gang-leader but one of the thugs hit him in his stomach with a collapsible baton. The man fell to his knees groaning, but he still had the strength to glare daggers at the thugs' leader.

The leader spoke to the man who threw the hamburger. "Lazz, do the customers of dis piece of shit of a place a favor n' throw away their food before they catch some disease. Mendez, yo' could teach dis moron his place." The fourth member remained guarding the doors.

Mendez, the one with the club, smiled and approached the man who was trying to pull back while the thug gently struck his palm with his baton. It was clear what he was going to do. Meanwhile, the other thug threw the tray of some boys, who were running out of the place, to the ground and then approach Kyle's table. When he went to take Viter's tray the boy caught him by the wrist.

"Oi! We've a reckl-!" He didn't say anymore because Viter's left fist crashed into his face sending him against the wall spitting a bloodied tooth.

Kyle jumped on his chair to land near the man and the three other thugs. "The one with the scars is mine!" Grana screamed on top of her lungs.

" _Neg_!" Stated Kyle, forgetting not to talk in clanner. "He is mine, you would keep the one with the weapon and the door guard if you want." Grana, seeing that she had most adversaries than Kyle and Viter, smiled.

"Bargained well and done." She said as she hurled herself over the one with the baton who was looking at the scene with such horror that it looked more as if Kyle and his friends had entered the place with three omnimechs.

Kyle stared at the leader. The man came out of his initial shock and smiled. "Look, look, look, three kids playin' clanners ta scare us." He raising his hands giving Kyle a smug smile. "Yo' r' not the first that try dis trick with us, and yo' gotta not be the only one ta make his ass swallow his words." He produced a long combat knife with steel knuckles from his back. At that moment the first of the bandits flew over one of the tables and hit the bar falling like a sack of potatoes while Viter shakes his hands and sat again to enjoy the fight and his food. "What the fuck?"

"We are not freeborn that pretend to be trueborn to frighten you, surat, we are trueborn who pretend to be freeborn to eat here." The boy stated with pride.

"Clanners or not yo' r' kids, I'm goin' to teach yo' a less-" He didn't finish the sentence. He was a bandit, scum, not even Kyle would call it a freeborn. It was something below even the excrement of a surat. So he didn't waste time in rituals or formalities, just as he would not offer a circle of equals to a cockroach he would step on. Kyle attacked without limitations.

Kyle connected a punch in the thug's face, giving at the same time a knock with his left hand to the area of the nerves of the wrist of the hand that held the knife. The second blow was so strong that the only thing that prevented the gang-member from screaming louder for having been hit such a sensitive spot was the one which broke his nose. Still, that rat knew how to take the blows, he backed himself up while he held the knife high between them and brought his free hand to his face. He opened his mouth to say something, but before any syllable could come out of it Kyle had thrown himself on the knife arm with both hands in front of him. The next thing he heard was a loud crackle followed by a shriek articulated by the bully when his right arm was bent in the middle of the forearm about four inches from the wrist. But Kyle didn't finish there, he took advantage of his prey shrinking from pain to hit his already shattered face with his knee, then Kyle kicked him with the sole of his boot in the solar plexus throwing him against the wall. Then he approached the panting body and snatched the knife from his now loosely clenched hand. Kyle pondered it, realizing that despite the unorthodox handle the blade was of military-grade quality, a second before he also removed the sheath and started putting it on.

"This knife is good, too good for scum like-" The fourth member of the group tried to attack him. Grana was taking her time to leave the owner of the baton as broken as she could and had forgotten his other prey. Kyle hit him in the stomach with the knuckles of the knife and the guy folded over. "Grana! Stop playing or I will take charge your other prey."

The girl jumped over the spoil she was crushing and grabbed her other opponent, who was still cringed by the blow, by the neck of the dirty shirt and forced him to look up at her. Kyle felt a slight chill when he saw the psychotic smile Grana gave his next victim. If there was something she liked more than scars on men, was giving them new ones.

"Grana." Kyle said putting his new knife in the holster. "This place is to eat, please do not stain it with more blood."

In response the guy flew out through the door with Grana jumping behind him. A couple of minutes later his three companions were lying unconscious next to the girl's second disfigured thug.

Kyle looked at the owner, he was sure that they could never go back to that place and it saddened him that he would not be tasting his food again. He left the money they had taken on the table and turned to his companions.

"Viter, Grana, we are leaving!"

" _Neg_ " She almost jumped. " I am not finished with my food yet."

"Now Grana! We have to get out of here now!"

* * *

Kyle sat on his cot while Viter made a sign indicating that the jumpsuits had been destroyed. He laid back, more relaxed but tired. He hoped they wouldn't be discovered but they had been impulsive and careless. Then Grana had wanted to throw a Trial of Possession for the knife. Kyle told her he would oblige as soon as they could fight without suspicions because surely the knife would give them away. It had taken nearly half an hour, and a strong headache, to convince her. Besides Grana "The Surgeon", as her companions called her and not because of her love for precise military operations, made him felt somewhat uneasy with such instrument to "make" scars. Even though Kyle and Viter knew how to control her, and even what her weaknesses were.

Grana walked over to Kyle's bunk. A couple of companions turned away. Only Kyle and Viter socially interacted with her, the rest staying at a distance because, despite the training regime, the girl was a dangerous sociopath. It wasn't fear, it was sane caution. Calling her psycho was a mistake, psychopaths do not feel empathy for their victims, but Grana enjoyed watching her preys suffer. She only respected something, strength, that's why she was always with both boys.

"Stand up _stravag_!" She kicked one of the legs of the litter. The other sibko's members got up anxious to see a fight. Kyle looked up at the girl.

"What do you want now?"

"You already know; I want the knife! What you told me before was only to confuse me, _quiaff_?" Viter facepalmed annoyed when he heard that.

" _Neg_ " Kyle stand up. He heard several companions whispered wondering what Grana was talking about. "Grana, I have won against you in all the combats we have disputed, I do not need to lie to you as a freebirth to keep what is already mine."

"Liar!" The girl roared. "I am tired of Viter and you treating me as if I was a _stravag_." Some of the companions chuckled, and Grana shuddered with pure rage.

"That is not true. But if you want to fight so badly so be it. As the challenger, what kind of combat do you want?"

"We will fight an un-augmented combat here!"

"Choosing the combat's place is my right!" Kyle shouted.

"So choose." Kyle stared at his companion as he cursed silently. There was no point in trying to hide, Grana had already shouted her intentions.

"So be it! We will fight here, declare your Batchall." He walked to the center of the barracks ready for combat.

"My name is Grana, from the Vickers bloodline, now I've seen fifteen years, I challenged you for the possession of the knife you got today." Kyle frowned and wished he could respond with a spheroid insult to Grana. "The combat will be un-aug-"

"What are you doing, cubs?" Instructor Selvin's voice resounded from the now open dorm door.

"I was challenging him!" Grana turned to him.

"I already realized that! Stop right now, you _stravags_!"

"I am not a _stra_ -"

"You may not be, but you are acting like one now, cadet." He used a neutral tone like he was teaching a lesson. Kyle cursed under his breath, that was the problem, Grana wasn't a _stravag_ , but she behaved like that when she let her rage emerge. "Now stop this nonsense and come here right now. Cup Viter you too." Hearing that, Grana and Kyle exchanged a concerned glance. When the three cadets approached the instructor, he made them follow him.

After a while, they were in the office of the saKhan Marco Hall, with an overwhelming knot in their stomachs. Selvin had remained outside, but inside were the proper saKhan and the Star Colonel Evantha Fetladral in person, leaning against the wall opposite to the room's windows with her huge arms crossed. Her expression was threatening. A saKhan, and an Elemental warrior who could have been one if she had wanted to. Two of the most important members and warriors of the clan. Kyle tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. Even Grana didn't dare to raise her head.

"Are they our three _tourist_?" The saKhan spoke in a soft but abrasive tone, even the unconventional term he used didn't fade the tension. The Star Colonel moved away from the wall and nodded.

" _Aff_ , my khan, these are the only cubs of the Clan that respond to those names." Evantha said. Kyle looked up at the elemental. _Stravag!_ Kyle told himself. _We use our names. We are stravags!_

The elemental approached the boys.

"Cubs I will ask you a simple question: Why did I receive a complaint about three wolf cubs outside Wolf City, assaulting freeborns in a restaurant in Old Connaught?"

Grana clenched her fists and took a breath, but Kyle stepped forward before her. Grana may have been too impulsive, but both she and Viter were acting under his orders, and a Wolf in Exile assumes his responsibilities even if these ones led him to damnation.

"It was all my fault, Star Colonel! I forced them to obey my plan to go to Old Connaught and try spheroid food."

"Cadet Kyle! That is not what the Star Colonel asked. We will discuss each other's responsibilities later." Hall said. "Why are there four freeborns in a hospital assaulted by three wolf cubs?"

"They were attacking the restaurant, my saKhan. They were four bandits pestering and assaulting the freeborns that were there. They tried to attack us, we only defended ourselves."

"Ha! What did I tell you?" Laughed Evantha looking at the saKhan. "These bandits were four thugs of one of the local mafias. The Duke Morgan Kell, the father of Khan Kell, has been trying to break them down for years without luck."

"I understand they were the Duke's prey, but I am not apologizing! They were bandits! They were scum!" Grana spat. Evantha smiled.

"Good, that solves a half of my question, but the other half still remains. Agreeing that what you did with the bandits was the right thing to do. What, in the name of Kerensky, were you doing there?"

"It was my fault, Star Colonel, I convinced them to go to the city and try their food and see how they lived."

"You just said that you forced them to obey you." Marco countered.

"I- I do not- I-" Marco rapped his knuckles the desk making Kyle stop.

"It seems that you are fast taking responsibility for your and your partner's mistakes. If you three want to eat and know how the freeborn live, we can help you. As soon as the Khan Kell finished spooking with the Old Connaught's authorities we will decide what to do with you.

" _Neg_!" Kyle said not even knowing what he was doing. "My saKhan, the responsibility is all mine, if you are going to punish someone do only to me." Hall looked at him in confusion.

"Cadet Kyle. Are you willing to face this punishment alone to save your companions?"

"I, my saKhan- I- they followed my orders, no- there is no honor in letting my decisions- harm them."

" _Neg_!" Viter take action. "I am not going to run away and leave my pack brother alone."

"M- me neither!" Grana said without looking up, but trembling with rage. Hall turned his head slightly to the right as Evantha planted himself in front of them with his arms crossed, they both stood for a couple of seconds staring at them with hard but serene gesture, finally the saKhan pressed a button on his desk.

"Did, my Khan, hear that?" The door behind the boys opened.

" _Aff_." A voice rang out behind them as the door opened. The three didn't even dare to turn around. "It seems our three heroes want to fall together." A figure appeared in front of them. It was the Khan Phellan Kell, along with Marco Hall he was the most powerful person of the Clan. He wore a jumpsuit with the scarlet stars on his shoulders. Around the waist of the jumpsuit he wore a belt with a arm holster, the boys had heard about how he carries the gun ever in the cockpit of his machine, always prepared, as a Wolf must be. The Khan removed a hearbug from his right ear before beginning to speak. "Do you know boys that you have done to the police forces of Old Connaught? I just finished an hour long holovid call with the police chief, he was blaming you of all from all crimes committed in the city since the Kerensky's Exodus. He wanted me to order you out of Wolf City to allow him arrest and judge you as adults on the charge of assaulting innocent citizens-"

"That is false!" Kyle burst out suddenly before realizing his mistake.

"That is false. What?"

"That is false, my khan. They were attacking the owner of the establishment, the other freeborns and us."

" _Aff_ , I know that." He waved his hand to someone behind them. "I hope you do not interrupt me again. I know it is all a lie, my cousin Christian has been saying weeks ago that the chief is corrupt. The Duke, my father, and I were not sure what to say until I heard Arthur's testimony." A man come from behind the boys, was the owner of the restaurant. He had a couple of bruises and was tremendously scared by his own presence there. He looked at the kids for a second and then to the Khan. "Please Arthur, tell me what happened after the boys left."

"Yes- I mean- Can I say yes, or not say _aff_ to a clanner is a lack of respect my Lord Kell? Sorry! I mean a member of-"

"Relax, Arthur. I am Khan Kell here, not the duke's son. And talk as you want, we do not need clanisms to understand you. Please, tell us what happened"

"Oh- y- yes, K- Khan Kell." The man cleared out a little before starting. "Shortly after the boys left, the police showed up, even the chief appeared. After this, one of his men took my statement, then the chief took me away and started to insist that I was wrong, that I had to say that the boys had started the fight. He said that my judgement was cloudy. But I couldn't do that, the boys had helped me. I don't know what would have happened to me if the boys weren't in my restaurant. I didn't know who to speak to, so I tried to contact you through your father, the Lord Duke, using a friend who still works in the manor kitchen to tell you the truth." The khan nodded.

"I have known Arthur for a long time. He worked in the kitchens of the Kell manor but then decided to open his own business. I was saddened to know that he was going through pressures from mafias and franchises. I know he would not lie and when I was told that a man named Arthur Leng had tried to contact the Clan, I did not hesitate to speak with him." He patted the man shoulder with a smile.

"My lord- I mean- Khan Kell, I-"

"Speak freely"

"Khan Kell, please, these guys didn't do anything wrong. They were very polite with me, they prevented the thugs from destroying the local and saved me and my clients from them."

"I know Arthur, but putting that aside aside these guys went out of Wolf City without permission and for that, they will have a punishment." The Khan locked at the three. "For two weeks you will receive only half-rations, I think you have eaten enough for a while. Also, I will double your duties, and I do not want a tenth less in your instructor's evaluations. I hope you have it clear, _quiaff_?

" _Aff_ , my Khan!" Answered the three at unison.

"We should whip them, too." Evantha spat. Arthur let out a muffled moan as Phellan looked at her smiling.

"Have you read their codex? Whipping one of them? You would break an electro-whip before they let out a scream. No, these guys already took lots of lashes without a real reason and that did not break them but I hope this at least makes them dent."

"That is to be seen, but as the Khan wishes."

"I do not consider it necessary neither, Star Colonel. I think that suffer a little hungry for a moment of gluttony is more appropriate, _quiaff_?" Marco Hall added.

" _Aff_. She answered in a cold tone.

"Good. Everything is settled then." The Khan nodded at Evantha. "I think we can allow the the cadets return to their barracks."

"Khan Kell. I-"

"Tell me, Arthur."

"I think I should thank the guys for what they did, maybe escape from Wolf City was wrong- but they help me-"

" _Aff_ , you have reason in that." Evantha looked displeased by the Khan answer. "Please, do it."

The man turned to the three young wolfs. "H- hi- sorry, I don't know how to- I should have thanked you before for what you did, you saved me from a beating- or worse." A pair of tears ran down the man's face, Kyle felt uncomfortable. "No one moved a finger for an old man who only had a dream before the reality tried to destroy. I'm really grateful- I- that people that think you are monsters are wrong, you have shown me more honor than many of us. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. keep being- If you finish your training- No, when you are warriors come to my restaurant, whether it is still standing or not, I will prepare you whatever you want."

 **[Flashback end]**

* * *

 **I wrote this chapter because I want to wrote that last part about Kyle's past. Before doing it I read the Way of the Clans... and discard almost everything. I suppose that someone would argue with me, but if the sibko systems is like I read in that book the Clans skills advantage is bullshit, utter bullshit. Kyle sibko uses a different training regime that the book, because in the book the Jade Falcon cadets** **spend more time fighting between them with fists or receiving insults and beatings by the trainers than training with a battlemech. They only pilot a battlemech just before the end of their training. This doesn't have any sense! Nineteen years being almost feral childs and one year to learning how to pilot a Mech... yes... The best training in the** _ **stravag**_ **universe!**

* * *

 **Fenrisulven13: Well, you don't know the ZnT plot so you're going to have a surprise about some things you said.**

 **Silly-Scare-Crow: Hehe! I suppose you aren't sated yet, I hope I could help you.**

 **Alpha 12: Thanks, but I don't think so. My beta has a big part of the merit.**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again! I have returned. I have a lot of thing on my plate but this chapter was already ready time ago, so zero problems.**

 **Sorry for continue using the OTL main canon. But the things are going to butterfly pretty soon.**

* * *

Kyle returned to Louise's door, one problem less under his hat. He had eaten and had made contact with some more amicable freeborns, which at least were less insufferable than many nobles he had met during his short stay there. Speaking of those nobles, he had noticed something that day. They hadn't stopped glaring at him since he had beaten Guiche, but they withdrew as soon as he approached them to see if they had the courage to keep doing that at arm's reach. He was better off with the freeborns of the staff, besides that, he could eat as much as he wanted, and Marto was certainly a very good cook. Apart from that, Siesta of Tarbes was quite attractive. That didn't solve all of his current problems but fixed some, which was a start. Besides, he was now a servant, and his place was with them, though they were paid ones, not isorlas like him. He'd thought about telling them Arthur's story, but he thought it best not to, at least for the time being.

When he reached the door he saw that Kirche's salamander was waiting for him, Kyle instincts kicked in and he adopted a defensive stance. He wasn't armed and didn't know the weak or strong points of that animal, but its name and flaming tail suggested it could attack him with fire, which wasn't good for him in the slightest. The animal came up and stopped in front of the boy, who was calculating the force that he needed to imprint vertically with his right leg on the reptile's skull to kill it. But before Kyle could attack the animal, it gave a slight tug of the jumpsuit's pants with its mouth and turned away. _That is not an attack for sure. If was, it was pretty pathetic._

"Kerensky's Blood! What are you doing?" The animal came up and tugged at his pants again, then turned and walked a couple of steps down the hall. "Do you want me to follow you?" In response, the animal kept walking. " _Aff_ , I will follow. This is the strangest thing that has ever happened to me... ever." He muttered. _What would be next? A talking surat?_ At this rate, he would lose his mind soon.

The lizard led him to a door and nodded. Kyle stood for a moment looking at the animal and the door alternately, confused, but finally knocked it.

"Come in, it's open." There was a voice inside. Kyle ignored the contraction and entered the room...

... to remain frozen in the door. Inside the room was Kirche, obviously, but instead of the suggestive uniform of the academy with its almost impossible cleavage now she was wearing some kind of piece of freeborn underwear, full of ribbons and so transparent that almost left nothing to the imagination.

"Welcome to my sweet bedroom, Kyle."

"T- thank you." He achieved to say when he managed to swallow a bit. Kyle wasn't versed in freeborn mating rituals, but that situation had an unmistakable aspect of one for him. He finished entering the room. "With your permission." The girl laughed.

"How polite!" She said throwing a kiss in the air. "You must think me a lowly, despicable woman." Kyle raised an eyebrow.

"You have poor interactions with my master, but that is not my main conclusions about you."

"To be thought so is inevitable. Do you understand?" She continued." My runic name is Kirche the Ardent. My passion is flammable as hay."

" _A_ \- _aff_?" Kirche stood sideways showing a long, nicely shaped leg, and then turning towards the boy showing him the entire dress. Or whatever stravag thing it was. It was open from a tie that was at the level of the chest to the bottom, showing a matching lower part, tiny and tremendously suggestive as well. It was a great demonstration of self-control that Kyle didn't look lasciviously at the girl, and an even bigger one that he didn't throw himself on the girl without any contemplation. "You don't get it? I'm in love. Yes, me... of you!" Kyle blinked, falling in love was an alien term in the Clans. That word broke his train of thoughts, which included both of them in bed in a wild clan-style mating intercourse.

"Love?" He asked confused.

"Yes! Love comes so suddenly." She approached the boy. "The way you defeated Guiche... it was amazing! And your loyalty to your master! You're a unique man, Kyle." She put her left hand on Kyle's chest. "Besides, I always love handsome and strong men." She licked her lips. "After seeing this, I became Kirche the Passion." She grabbed Kyle by the jumpsuit neck and brought her lips close to his mouth. Kyle was about to take her by the back of her neck and reciprocate. Maybe that night was much more satisfying than he thought. Then a third voice interrupted them.

"Kirche!" Both looked at the place where the voice came from and saw an Academy student leaning out the window as if he didn't care how high it was.

"Oh, Sticks!" Kirche said confused as she recognized him.

"I came because you didn't come when we-" He couldn't continue because a Wolf-in-Exile's fist crashed against his face, a tooth struck against the window frame as the body it belonged to fell like a ton of bricks.

"Annoying pest!" He closed the window, then hesitated for a second. "We are on a third floor, _quiaff_?"

"Quiaff? Yeah- yes, we are." The Germanian come close again. "Where were we going?"

A new knock on the closed window interrupted them. Kyle was starting to get very angry, he cursed not having the pistol at hand at the moment. In the morning I would ride my Mech and crush a few vermin. He turned and saw a different boy, he opened the window.

"Kirche! You were supposed to come-" The boy's face turned red when a hand closed around his neck and squeezed, then smashed him against the windowsill, letting him fall into the void beyond, leaving a tooth mark on his forehead. Kyle closed the window and covered it with the curtains, swearing to break the neck of the next person who dares to interrupt him again. The girl's random sex life mattered little to him at the moment.

"Kyle-" Kirche tried to said when he grabbed her behind the back of her neck, kissed her and stuck his tongue into her throat, catching her by surprise although she recovered quickly. It seemed that her prey was more a hunter than she believed, which was always interesting.

Flame stepped away from her master's and the boy's path to the bed. Both fell on it. Kirche struggled with Kyle's jumpsuit trying to see how it opened. Kyle smiled and pulled the zipper down to the stomach, surprising the germanian.

"Kirche!" Another voice sounded, this time from the door. Kyle raised his head angrily, while he was searching for his boot knife. He was furious. He was going to cut the neck the next interloper. But his hand didn't manage to reach the empty knife sheath. At the door, dressed in her pink negligee, Louise frowned to them.

"M-master?" The girl's frown and clenched fists and teeth clearly showed her emotional state, she is angry, very much, with him.

"Zerbst! Whose familiar do you think you're touching?"

"Love and fire are the Zerbst family's destiny. It's a fate that burns in our bodies. It is our lifelong goal to embrace this passionate flame. You should know that." Kirche shrugged, while Louise shook in anger. "Besides, I think he's the one touching me." She said looking at Kyle's left hand that she was still clutching one of her breasts. Kyle quickly removed his hand knowing that something wasn't right, but in spite of it, the pinkette girl gritted her teeth.

"Come here, Kyle" She said using her hand like she was calling a disobedient dog. He frowned but a pain in the back of the head pierced his anger.

"Oh? Louise... he is indeed your familiar, but he has his own will too, don't you think? Please respect his choice. It isn't good to separate two people who love each other." Kyle blinked again in disbelief forgetting the pain. When had he-? It was clear to him that the redhead was very confused. "Is it true, Kyle?" And she took him by the head and sank it in her generous cleavage. Kyle regretted that his angry master was present, if not that moment would have been much more enjoyable.

"I see." Louise almost growled. "But keep in mind that tomorrow, dozens of nobles will be behind you, perverted god." Kyle jerked away from Kirche's embrace, coming out from between her breasts with wide eyes looking at Louise.

"Dozens of nobles? Why?"

"To fight you, everyone is behind this Germanian harlot as if they were in heat. Although, of course, she is always in-" Louise looked at her familiar face, he was mouth-wide smiling with a predatory look in his eyes.

"Finally! I want to fight an enemy more talented and honorable than _that_ Guiche." He threw his right fist over the palm of his left hand. The girls looked at him confused. "I am tired of their looks of contempt, but even more of their lack of courage and honor to try to face me. Those freebirths do not have the guts to challenge me to a single duel. I am a Clan Wolf-in-Exile member! Do the nobles of this world have no value of their honor and bravery?"

"You're very brave darling!" The germanian embrace again Kyle giving a soft and sensual lick him in the ear, causing him a tingling that ran all over his back. "Let's stay with me." She whispered in his ear. "You'll not regret it." Louise shivered as if she was shaken by an inner earthquake.

"I-" She drew air into her lungs to make her voice sound steady. "I'll tell you one last time, familiar! Come with me."

"Is that an order, master?"

"AFFFF!" She said imitating the boy's language.

"At your service, master." He said getting up and closing the zipper of the jumpsuit. Suddenly a night promising a Clan-style sex session had been cut before it even started.

"B- but you're leaving me alone?" The redhead grabbed his arm giving him puppy eyes.

" _Aff_ , it is myduty." Kyle said immune to these eyes at the same time he pulled himself free. He walked up to Louise. "At your command, master." Though internally he thought he would need a cold shower for several hours, or maybe days, to calm himself. And to top all that, her master's clothes, a semi-transparent pink nightgown with tiny panties, didn't help him in the slightest. He wondered if in that world all women wore that type of bedding. If so, he was in deep trouble. After all, although no one there was a member of hissikbo Kyle had always looked with equal interest to the cubs of othersikbos, and even to some freeborn females. He had never tried anything to avoid complicating his life, though it wasn't entirely out of his mind.

* * *

When they entered in Louise's room she closed the door and turned with a reddish face to him just a second before exploding.

"W- what the hell are you? A pervert dog among yours?" She shrieked with a firm, hard voice that would have delighted one of his former instructors.

" _Neg_ , master. I did not think I would cause you any discomfort with my actions with Kirche in her room."

"Well, it does! Her family and mine have had a feud for generations. I will not let you approach her! Got it?"

" _Aff_ , master." She sighed.

"At least you seem to obey me... sometimes. I can't allow you fall in love with her, not her. That's an order!" Kyle shot her a confused look.

"F- fall- fall in lo- love? I- Me?" He composed himself a little. "I think you are confused, master. I had no loving intentions whatsoever with miss Kirche."

"Then, what in the name of the Founder were you doing with her?" Kyle turned his face off annoyed.

"I want to have sex with her, master." Durgin a long moment the room remain silent, but that was only the calm before the storm.

"W- WHAT?" She screamed red as a tomato. "B-but- what kind of sexual predator are you? Are you some long lost relative of the Zerbst and have to get into everyone's bed?"

" _Neg_ , master. I only wanted to relax a little."

"R- relax?" She went to her chest and recover her riding crop. Then she turned to him and began to bend the crop with teeth clenched. "A- and you said it calmly. I- I should-" She bent, even more, the crop, almost to the limit of its resistance. "Why would you need to relax d- dog?" Kyle tensed a little.

"I request permission of speak freely, master."

"W- what?"

"I ask your permission to express my opinion without any restrictions, master. Otherwise, my answers to your question will be incomplete."

"I- it's- okay, just talk" She relaxing the tension of the crop a little, while she was processing the definition that had just given her. The boy looked at the chairs in the room's table, she nodded and sit in one while he sat on one side of the table with a tired gesture.

"Master Louise, have you thought about what you did to me?" He said his hands over the table.

"What? What does that mean?" Se bent the crop again.

"You kidnap me, you dragged me away from everything I knew taking me to a world where you do not even have the technology Terra had a millennium ago." He started to fell a mild buzzing in the back of his head but he continued. "Inhabited by strange creatures and with people able to do- freebirth! MAGIC! I was a Clan Wolf-in-Exile cadet. I was going to be the next generation of warriors of the Clan! My future, my possible glory, everything that was to be in the Clan has disappeared for no other reason than to be your servant by a strange law and force that I do not understand."

"I'm the one who doesn't understand you! Being chosen as a mage's familiar is an honor."

"But you summon creatures! Pets! What does a pet understand about honor?" He spat. "Maybe in this world, but I have lived in four different planets and no one would think that. I do not mind being punished, but only if I deserve such punishment. And you used me after the classroom explosion as a target practice. You behave at all times as if whatever someone told you was an attack, as if you had to prove something and vent you frustrations and fears in me."

"Y- you saw what happened in the class- classroom! I'm incapable of doing proper magic! And a- about y-you-"

"That is not true." He stood up.

"W- what?" She looked at him confused.

"Tell me, master. How much does Kirche's flaming lizard measure and weigh?"

"W- I- I don't know. Maybe four feet and the weigh-"

"Thirty tons?"

"Founder almighty! No, of course not!"

"Then look out the window." The girl did and Kyle pointed out the dark silhouette of his machine. "You, I do not know how, summoned me. If you did not have much power perhaps I would have appeared alone or just the head of my Battlemech, but instead you carried hundreds of light years a thirty tons and ten meters high object with a living being inside in an instant. Explain to me how you did it if, as you say, you have no magic. One of our ships would take months or years."

The girl stared at the machine silhouette for a moment and then looked at the boy. Would it be possible? Even if she couldn't make the most simple spell, could he be right? It could be that she really had power, a great power, only that she was unable to channel it properly. At that moment she became depressed again. She could have a lot of power, but if she wasn't able to use it, it was like not having it.

"We just have to find the reason why you can not use it." The boy said suddenly.

"What?"

"Sorry, master. I was thinking about another sibko member who had bad marks scores. There were some rumors about his expulsion from the sibko when, one day, his scores started to surpass ours."

"What happened?"

"One of his eyes was dominant over the other." Kyle didn't know the name of this visual problem. "When he discovered that, he started to train himself in secret to correct that. I saw him once hit a target over one hundred meters outside of the maximum weapon range of a light automatic cannon. Using parabolic shots. He even repeated the trick with an Ultra AC/20 once, although the extra reach was smaller."

"Ultra ei- ci twenty? What is that?"

"An Ultra Auto-Cannon Class 20. Ultra stands for its rate of fire, double than the usual. The AC or Automatic Cannons are capable of firing High Explosive Armor Piercing round to a target. The Twenty is related to its power, in fact, Class 20 is the most powerful type of automatic cannons in use in a Battlemech. Capable of maiming or destroying my machine with a single shot. Its major downside is the short range." Louise gaped trying to figure that, but he changed the topic. "What I wanted to say before, master, is that you do not need to be defensive with me about your magic. Ever since you show me that what you call magic exists I know you have power. Because I am here! There is a problem with your power, but if we find the cause you not only would only be able to do magic, but it will be very powerful."

"And how will we find the problem? You aren't even a mage!"

"True, I am not a mage and I do not know anything about magic, master. I can only try different approaches by trial and error. But I know there must be a physical or mental cause that prevents you from doing it. You have magic and a very powerful one, you only need to reach it. If I had to theorize, I would say that it is trust, you lack confidence in yourself."

"T- that's ridiculous. I- I'm a noble and a ma-" She stood up angry with her face red.

"SIT DOWN!" Kyle suddenly stood up and roared at the girl. She recoiled in shock, stumbling and falling on her chair. "See? This is lack of confidence. You are not able to speak without stuttering, even when you are angry your voice failed you sometimes. This morning, when you asked me for tea, if I would not have been so permissive, I would not have even brought it yet." The boy approached her with his hands clasped behind his back. "I am not a stravag freeborn shrink, but I can see that is your main problem. If it is what prevents you from doing magic we have to solve it. If it is not, then one of your problems will be solved and at least you will face those who humble you with courage and decision. If you can not do a spell to silence Kirche, maybe you can do the same thing I did with Guiche."

"Beating a classmate! I'd be kicked out of the academy!" Kyle laughed.

"Then, no beating, but my point remains. Master, I think you did not understand what happened in the trial with Guiche. I knew at the start that I was going to win, even without knowing the kind of magic he was going to use. The only thing I did was reveal to him and his colleagues what I already knew."

"How did you know?"

"His way of moving, he made too many moves and gestures to show off, between invocation and invocation I could have crossed his golems' defense line and broken his neck." He said that as if it was the most natural thing to do. "Now, master, a question. Do you know why I did what I did at the end of the combat?"

"No." Kyle stiffened a little and glared at the girl as his instructors used to.

"Shock and awe, master. I could have challenged, one by one, all the mages who mock you, but I opted for a more indirect if faster approach. Use an overwhelming, excessive you would say, force against Guiche in front of his equals. As a result, many nobles lost the initiative on any challenge they wanted to throw at me, which is a real shame." He shrugged. "Controlling the initiative I force them to react, not to act on their own. If I had been softer with Guiche they would have thought that maybe some of them could defeat me, 'because Guiche is nothing more than a presumptuous _stravag_.'"

"And if anyone wants to attack you anyway?" Kyle smiles nonchalantly.

"In such case, he would be a brave opponent, it will be a great fight." Louise massaged her temples a little. _This familiar is going to be the death of me._

"A- and threaten the noblewomen too?"

"In the Clan, the women fight too, they are warriors too. I do not know how this world works, but the worst fighting I have ever had were against women. They are a menace if you underestimate them. The only hardest thing I have ever had has been fighting against elemental phenotype women." He returned to his instructor's pose, "You are being despised by your peers." Louise's face changed enough to augur an explosion and maybe a literal explosion as well. "That is what they think about you. They are presumptuous for the simple fact of being able to do magic. Well, let them think so, but we will prove that they are very wrong. _Quiaff_?" Louise blinked in confusion. "The correct answer to that question is _Aff_."

" _Aff_!" She said trying to use a confident voice. Kyle showed a lupine smile.

"Excellent. In that case we have work to do. Master, are you afraid of physical exercise?"

"W- what?" That question puzzled her.

"I am going to train you. My goal is making you capable of defending yourself with or without magic, in someone sure of yourself, in a predator. Maybe you cannot fight at the academy, but I want you internally think and be assured you, after my workout, can beat anyone who mocks you. Feel you have something they do not possess and use that knowledge to feel safer, not only when you do magic but in your normal life. Are you willing to give it a try?"

"I- I-"

"The voice. Say _aff_ or _neg_ or, if you want, yes or no. It does not matter now. You have to say it with trust in yourself, with desición. I will train you, I will make you gain confidence. Not only for your magic but to confront those who attack you. In return, you would not treat me like an animal but like your isorla. Not eating on the floor, I can do it in another place, but as a civilized being, I am not a barbarian and neither my master." He looked at her eyes. "No physical punishment unless I deserve it. Not paying your frustration with me for no reason. You want to vent it? I could help you. Believe me, I have ways. And finally, during the training sessions, you will obey me as if the roles had been reversed. But I will only do it if you show me now that you have the will to do it because when the training starts there will be no going back."

Louise hesitated for a moment, still not quite understanding what he was proposing. How could a barbarian without magic help her? But at the same time she thought about how he didn't feel afraid confronting a mage when he doesn't have any magic. _What if that was my problem? What if I can't do magic because somehow I think I can't do it? Maybe I'm blocking it._ Perhaps the taunts and scoldings of her first failures would have sealed their magic years ago. Louise opened her lips and looked into the boy's face. _I don't lose anything by trying_. She wanted to say yes or even aff, but she preferred to make a statement, no blindly agreed.

She took a deep breath before spoke. "Yes, I want to stop the mocks. I want to do magic. I want to stop feeling threatened." Her voice was trembling, but without stuttering as usual. She managed to withstand the tears that clouded her eyes.

"Thus shall it stand until we all shall fall." He was smiling. "Tomorrow morning before dawn we will start-"

"Wait!" She almost bounced.

"Something wrong, master?"

"Tomorrow is the Day of Void."

"And?" He still has a lot of things to learn about that world. Maybe he should ask her master about that, after that he must be a useful isorla for her, not and uncultured thug.

"I want to take you to the city, to the capital of the kingdom."

"Could I ask why, master?"

"That gun." She pointed the gun inside its holster resting on the table. "If you have to defend me, I'd prefer it with a less deadly weapon."

"Less-deadly-weapon?" Kyle looked at her, trying to imagine what she is saying. "Like what?"

"You fought well with the spear, maybe one." He shook his head.

" _Neg_ , a spear or a lance are not good defense weapons outside a close formation. A lone warrior with one is not as effective as multiple warriors armed with them. Also, the spears are long and hard to transport outside the battleground or in a Battlemech cockpit. A sword would be preferable." Louise thought for a second.

"Yes! It's a nobler weapon!" He shook his head again.

"A weapon is as noble as the person who carries it, master. This would be your first lesson. A noble-looking weapon could be sullied by an unworthy owner, and a rusty and battered weapon could be covered with glory when used by a true and honorable warrior. Yet, you must know that a sword is lethal if used with murderous intentions. And maybe I will have to use it like that if someone tries to attack you."

"Yes, yes, I understand. But that pistol is excessive." The last thing the girl wanted was to see herself in a confrontation in which each shot of her familiar dismembered an enemy with an explosion. _There were already too many explosions in my life._

" _Aff_ , I understand, master. That plan does not interfere with my training plan, though. I will wake her up before dawn."

"W- what? No! I won't wake up at that hour tomorrow!" She said angrily, Kyle smiled.

"It appears that you are showing more confidence now. Well done and bargained. Tomorrow I will postpone the training until the end of the city trip. But only that day." He clapped his hands. "Now if all things are settled I will ask your permission to excuse myself, I have to go to the water fountain."

"For what?" She held the boy by the arm.

"I need to freshen up. After my meeting with Kirche, I still need cold water and fresh air to ease my mind." He looked at the girl's delicate nightgown. "Unless you want to volunteer yourself to calm me down. I do not know if you know what we say about the sibko girl members with aerospace phenotype build in the be-"

Kyle closed the door room, shielding himself of the 'projectiles' thrown by Louise while several 'Pervert!' and 'dirty dog!' cries rang down the hall.

"I will take that as a _neg_." He said as he headed for the fountain. "I guess I deserved the punishment this time." He finished with a half smile.

* * *

 **Welcome to the new Fav and follows! Yay!**

 **Artyom-Dreizehn: On hiatus yes, abandoned? No. It was only sleeping and me pondering things.**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


	7. Chapter 7

**New chapter ahoy!**

 **I'm ready to deploy it.** **  
 **I want to thank my beta** **Poliamida for his help.****

 **And, by the way, Fenrisulven13 remember the Batchall I declare you. "Then may Combat be thy Judge and Victory thy Jury. Begin!"**

* * *

Louise looked up until she almost fell backward on her butt.

"You can't be thinking about doing that! Are you nuts?" She shouted at the Pack Hunter head.

"Why not?" It came from the Mech's external loudspeakers. "It will take half the time to get to the city, even less. Besides, it will be good training for you."

"Training? Are you calling t-that training?"

" _Aff_." He deadpanned. "Please, put on the filtration mask as I told you, and take hold of the ropes that I tied around the Mech's hand. We will be in the city in a short time."

"B- but-"

"Master, if you cannot overcome fear, how do you intend to overcome your companions' mockery?"

"B- but- you didn't tell me about going to the city riding in the hand of your gol- mek!"

" _Aff_ , I purposely neglected tell you it. You have to face surprise, adapt, change tactics during combat. Not all your foes are going to fight honorably. You have to learn how to overcome the unknown or the unworthy."

"T- that's easy for you to say."

"Master, think about my situation, this world for me a total unknown. Do you think it is easier for me, _quineg_?"

"Right, right, right! I will do it!" She said putting on the filtration mask that Kyle had been using until a few days ago to breathe in the poor atmosphere of the Dust Bowl. At that moment, the girl turned her head and noticed a figure dressed in tunic approaching. "Professor Colbert!"

"Good morning Miss Valliére," he turned to the machine "familiar Kyle."

""Instructor Colbert, I deeply regret not having spoken with you sooner." Kyle said through the Mech's speakers. "I would like to apologize for what happened the day my master summoned me." Colbert put his hand to his face instinctively.

"Apologies accepted. I'm pretty sure that was only a misunderstanding. Besides, you don't have to be so formal with me. I always considered myself nothing more than a scholar."

" _Neg_ , I was instructed in the respect to our instructors. It is impossible for me to address someone who holds his position differently, especially if I am in a training facility like this one." Colbert's head tilted confused.

"Are you leaving?"

" _Aff_! Master Louise wants to visit the city. So I want to take that opportunity to show her what my _Pack Hunter_ is capable of."

"The city? Wait! You can't do that!" An awkward silence followed the teacher outburst.

"Explain." Kyle asked slowly, evaluating the teacher's behavior.

"The- the city will panic! You can't get in with that construct. The Ch- the guards and the city marshals would try to question miss Valliére." Louise bounced over the hand scared, but Kyle spoke.

"I am not planning to enter the city proper. Entering in a civilian area with a battlemech outside combat is foolish." Colbert breathed relieved. "But this machine is the fastest way to reach our destination."

"It's dangerous! If the Chu- if the guards-"

"Do not be afraid instructor Colbert, we will take measures to avoid any confrontation. I studied a map of the surroundings this morning. I have some ideas to defuse any possible problem."

"But-" He shook his bald head. "The Academy will decline any responsibility."

"I understand." Colbert bit his lips.

"Please, no one must see this- creation."

"As I said before I will avoid any problem instructor." Defeated, Colbert stepped back.

"Fine. But please, again, be careful. Later I want to study this- _Pack Hunter_? Is that its name?."

" _Aff_ , that's the name of this battlemech model. There are hundreds of different models. It is a 30-ton Mech armed with an extended range particle gun, with four tons of durasteel armor, endosteel chassis and a standard Light Force 210 fusion engine. Other remarkable equipment are its Jump Jets that allow it to jump over obstacles, and ten Clan-grade double heat sink to evacuate the waste heat." The teacher looked the machine in awe.

"Oh! I wish I could study it and learn more about it. Would you mind talking to me later and showing me how it works?"

"I would not mind, instructor Colbert. Besides I need your help."

" As?"

"All the battlemech engines consume hydrogen as fuel to maintain the fusion reaction inside their chambers. Hydrogen is one of the elements that compose water. Although my machine reserves are around 70% I would prefer to have a way to recharge it if necessary. I can use water, even moisture from the atmosphere, but using pure hydrogen is more advisable. The real problem is that the Jump Jets charge is low. Do you have mercury reserves in the academy? Or can it be- transmuted?" The man was thoughtful during a moment before answering in a cheerful and curious tone.

"Mercury? As quicksilver? Yes, I have a laboratory and maybe I could give you some... depending on your needs. As for what you call hydrogen, maybe we can study it too. I would love to know more about what you're talking about! But let me ask you a question first."

"Ask, instructor Colbert."

"What's a Jump Jet?"

"Oh! I am sorry, I failed to remember that this world is so backward. Let me show you." Kyle rotated a little the mech's head. "Master, are you finished?"

"Yes!" Said the girl seated and secured on the hand with a pair of ropes as reins. "But I don't know how you plan to cross the w-"

"Hold on strong, master." He said raising the hand and backing away to get some space. "Instructor Colbert, these are Jump Jets."

"W- wait- no!" Colbert tried to shout over the machine's thunderous footsteps.

Kyle took several agile steps with the Mech before pressing the Jump Jets pedals fully. Two ion plumes flashed from the back of the machine, making it jump up and over the wall. In a second the courtyard was filled with smoke and rumbling, which covered the screams of the girl. The machine surpassed the wall and quickly fell to the ground landing with all the softness that a machine of its weight could. Kyle noticed that the jump was much less abrupt than he was accustomed, and the movement was more fluid too, confirming the impressions he would have had the day before while he was parking the machine.

* * *

While that was happening, Kirche pondered what had happened to her the night before. Louise's familiar had been far more interesting than she thought. She could feel for a moment his strength, his passion, and for someone like Kirche Augusta von Zerbst, it was something that made her insides burn. She had to make the boy hers. Make Zer- no Louise's familiar forget about his master. She remembered the boy's zeal to defend her. Something normal in a way between a master and a familiar, but clearly here the difference was that this familiar was an intelligent being… and attractive… and strong- The girl felt the heat in her chest as she continued that thought. After all, the other boys she was going to see that night were in the infirmary because of Kyle. Another point in his favor, a simple commoner who was able to beat nobles with his bare hands, that's alluring.

She ran her hand down her cleavage, remembering the rough but strong touch of Kyle's hands, and sighed. She had to think how to make him forget about Louise for enough time to earn his undivided attention. It was a difficult task since she wasn't struggling with a man in love with another woman, as she had done before, but with a man bound by some sort of code of honor to Louise. And that sometimes could be much more difficult to break with the regular tactics.

After pondering for a long time, she chose a new approach. He'd be her new lover soon. After getting ready, Kirche grabbed the doorknob ready to go after him without hesitation. But before that, she heard a howling clatter outside that made the windows tremble. Frightened she peeked outside to see what was happening and saw Kyle's golem in the middle of smoke and flames jumping over the wall with Louise in its hand. When that contraction landed, the girl could not help but marvel at having seen a golem, a creature normally attached to earth, fly. Then, as she started to run in the general direction of the capital, she left her room and ran to ask her friend Tabitha for a favor, determined to not lose against Louise.

Tabitha refused to help her at the start, for her the Day of Void meant a moment of peace to be able to continue reading her loved books. But after hearing the story about Kyle's flying golem she decided to help the Germanian and investigate more about that strange animated statue. With Kirche following her, they reached the area of the academy where the familiars rested during nights. She Approached their familiar Sylphid, a big blue dragon. She made Kirche mount on it after her and then she told the dragon. "Two people, one inside a metal golem. Don't eat them."

The dragon took off making Kirche squee in awe. After a while, it managed to find them, although that was difficult since they didn't expect them to be that fast.

"It's fast." Said the blunette pointing at the machine.

"My darling is incredible! It must be two times faster than a horse! You think they are going to the city?" Her partner only nodded. "That witch! Sure she wants to wheedle him with something. I can't allow that! Faster! Tabitha! Faster!" Her friend admonished her with a staff's wallop in the head. "Ouch!"

* * *

Professor Colbert watched the machine leave as he sorted out his thoughts. He had been distracted by the boy's explanations and had forgotten his orders. That was inadmissible. He returned to Mr. Osmond's office pensive.

"Profesor Colbert! Where did miss Vallière familiar go with his golem?" Ask the old man when Colbert entered the office.

"I t- think they went to the capital."

"WHAT?" The old man bolted. "Did you lose your mind? Do you know what would happen if someone discovers the G- miss Vallière familiar's golem?"

"My apologies. I should have been less permissive, but Kyle seems to have already anticipated any problem in advance." Osmond stroked his beard as he heard his colleague's apologies. "Besides, I couldn't foresee that the golem was able to go beyond the walls

"Let's hope that the boy doesn't attract too much attention." He sighed tiredly. "That was unexpected. A golem capable of flying."

"More than flying I would say that it can jump. Miss Vallière familiar told me that it uses mercury to achieve it." The old man looked surprised at the teacher and formed an 'O' with his mouth before answering.

"Does it fly using mercury? What kind of magic could that be? Mercury is an element linked to earth magic."

Colbert shrugged. "I don't think it's magic, at least as we understand it. However, I would like to ask you a favor related to that."

"Ask, Professor Colbert." He said filling his pipe. Good thing that his secretary was out of the office in that moment, because it was becoming increasingly difficult to find where she was hiding his old pipe or the smoke herbs.

"I need you to apply my name for a special permit to the Church, so that I can enter the inner room of Tarbes Temple." The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"What do you need that permit for? As far I remember you have seen the Tarbes' Guardian several years ago."

""Have you ever seen it?"

"No. I had a chance just after the temple was erected, but my duties here were very time-consuming. Why this interest now?" Osmond put his smoking pipe in his mouth.

"I think the Church is wrong." The old teacher's pipe slipped from his lips to the floor.

* * *

Due to the request of the bald teacher, Kyle had ignored the main road to the capital, ready to follow the indications of the map and its master's ... when this last one stopped screaming.

"Dammit! Stop! Stoooooop! STOOOOOP! We're going to die!" Cried the girl.

" _Neg_ , everything is under control, master. We are only running at ninety kilometers per hour, it is not even the maximum speed of this machine."

"C- can it- can it run faster?" She gaped.

" _Aff_ , 119 kilometers per hour on flat ground and traverse up to 210 meters per jump. Now please let me know if we are on the right path."

"The road is there! Use it!"

" _Neg_ , is not prepared for the weight of the machine, I prefer to go cross country. In addition, if there is a traveler on the road we can hurt or kill him. And your instructor was clear about not being seen." Louise nodded for a second realizing she was right. "Point me at the city."

She pointed east. "Over there, but there is a river."

"How wide?"

She pondered. "I think fifty meters on- are you going to jump again? I forbid you, damn dog!"

" _Neg_ , master, if depth of the river is assumable I cross it walking. It is dangerous to cross a river with a battletech running. If it is not possible, we will have to jump again, since I do not think any bridge will hold our weight. Then, before arriving at the city, I need a grove or forest to park the mech and hid it."

"For what?"

"You were not thinking about entering the city with it, were you?" Louise shivered.

"By the Founder no!"

"In that case, please direct me to a place to park it."

After solving a few problems they managed to reach the outskirts of the city and leave the machine hidden in a nearby grove stuck to a few tall rocks.

* * *

Already in the city, Louise tried to recover from the experience that she had lived through. It had been like falling off a cliff without stopping for fifteen minutes. But she couldn't deny that it had been much faster than a horse. She wondered if the people in Kyle's world traveled like this. When she asked the boy he laughed and said neg. They had more suitable vehicles for it, some even faster and other capable of flight. She asked herself why they needed vehicles so fast. Then she remembered that Kyle had told her that they were traveling from star to star, and that they were separated from each other by billions of kilometers.

"Where are we going, master?" Louise put her index finger over her lips thinking.

"First we will go for the sword, some clothes for you, as your master I must give you some clothes, and then I want to buy some reagents that I need."

"Dye too?" The boy said suddenly.

"What? Dye?" She turned to the boy.

" _Aff_ dye, for your hair." Louise stood still and began to shake, clenching her fists.

"W- why- you filthy dog- why you say that I need d- dye for my hair?" She said about to explode while a twitch in her right eye was as visible as the throbbing vein in her forehead. Kyle realized he'd screwed up somehow, so he tried to respond as respectfully and simply as possible.

"Because it is pink, humans do not have pink hair. Must be-"

"LISTEN TO ME, DAMN DOG!" She burst out in the middle of the street, causing a couple of bystanders to retreat in fear. "My hair color is natural! I have it like this since I was born and I'm proud of it! It's the same color as my sister Cattleya and my mother's!" Kyle recoiled.

"My apologies, master, but in my world there is no such hair color. I believed-"

"Silence!" She said in a voice that made Kyle proud. _It has what I need, you just have to know how to get your inner rage out_. She thought. "Let's finish with the errands and then I'll think how to punish you."

" _Aff_ , master... b- but may I ask a question before it?"

"Only if you show me proper respect." She said, clenching a fist that would end in the boy's face.

" _Aff_ master. The silent girl. The one who always follow Miss Kirche. Is her blue hair natural too?"

"Tabitha? As far as I know yes, it's natural."

"By the Father and the Founder!" He exclaimed before thinking in silence whether these people were human or not.

Humans didn't have pink or blue hair. The explanation was magic, something natural to those humanoids aliens. They weren't a lost colony. Could they be the dangerous outsiders he had heard about in legends? And if so, how could the Clan fight them if a girl who didn't control her power had teleported a battlemech with its pilot through hundreds or thousands of light years?

"Let's go. I don't want waste any more time." She pointed in a random direction. "This way."

" _A- aff_." He barely managed to say.

They continued walking around the city, Kyle realizing that he wasn't able to read the shop signs since they were written in letters totally unknown to him. It was not that they were written in another language, but that the letters were totally alien to him. Another proof of his later idea.

"Master, what is that posters hanging there?" He finally managed to say.

She read the posters. "They're "Wanted" posters, here it talks about an ex-noble who robs other nobles, and in this one about two bandits who attacked caravans near the city."

"I suppose there are bandits everywhere, no matter the world." He said thoughtfully.

"Are there thieves in your world too?"

"Sadly more than here, at least in the spheroid worlds, in the Clan worlds the bandits know that we are much harder with punishments and they are more careful to not be discovered."

"How hard?"

"If they are very lucky, forced labor on asteroids without atmosphere." He said nonchalantly. "But normally death, especially with the most dangerous and less honorable pirates. If a Clan ship captures a pirate ship we will space them of their own ships to die of asphyxiation and freezing in the void of space. Some instructors say that it is so cold that blood boils in your veins."

Louise didn't understand exactly what he was saying, but it sounded rather unpleasant. She continued reading about the bandit duo. One of them looked like a tall woman who used a very sharp dagger to hurt her victims if they didn't give them the money. The other could be a mage or perhaps a former member of the Tristanian grenadier corps because he attacked with explosions and fire. _Damn it!_ She thought. _The last thing I need is for Kirche to read this and ask me if I'm related to him._ She motioned to Kyle and they entered a smelly alley nearby. The boy tensed instantly with his right-hand lending to reach for his weapon against any possible threat.

"Here. I think it's clo- There it is!" She said looking at the sign of a rather filthy store.

Kyle and Louise entered the shop and a pig-faced man with fallen cheeks received them from behind the counter.

"Oh, nobles!" He looked at Louise. "Are you a noble? I carry an honest business here, I'm not being watched by the authority or-"

"I want to buy a sword." Louise cut the man with a haughty gesture. Kyle frowned, he didn't like that merchant. "I want a sword that my familiar can use." She pointed to the boy. Kyle saw that Louise was managing the situation with ease and noted it mentally. Her body language and tone were more than desirable for him.

"Oh! Certainly. And what kind of blade do you have in mind?" He said putting his hands together in a forced gesture of submission to Louise. Kyle felt the physical need to punch him, but he restrained himself, at least for the moment.

"I'm a noble! So I want something that lives up to it." She said with a gesture to sufficiency. "I don't know about swords, but-" Kyle winced at that and intervened as fast as he could.

"Master." His master may have shown herself confident in front of a commoner, but she should never announce her weaknesses, either in or out the battlefield.

"What?" She sounded not amused by the interruption.

"I received military training, I am sure that I could assess the weapons quality."

"Right!" She turned to the merchant. "Show my familiar your swords."

"Good, good." Said the man taking from the counter a rapier with an intricate filigree in the bowl and the handle. "This sword is very popular among the nobles." Kyle picked it up.

"Among the nobles?"

"That's right, my young lady. Lately, the nobles have been arming their servants, and sometimes they remain the prettiest pieces for them too, some of them even convert them to wand-swords, they are very fashionable product these days."

"Arming their servants? Why would nobles do that?" Louise asked puzzled.

"Have you not heard the news? There is a dangerous bandit prowling around the region."

"A dangerous bandit?" Kyle asked as he continued to test the balance and grip of the sword.

"Yeah, well... there have always been bandits around. But this one, in particular, is rumored to be a mage thief that calls himself something like 'Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt,' and I heard he stole a lot of treasures from the nobles. Those nobles are getting really rattled, so they're arming their servants with swords."

"Oh! I remember now!" Louise brought her index finger to her lips. "I think I read something about him in a sign in the main square."

"Master." Kyle said, leaving the sword with a certain ceremony on the counter. "I want to check another sword, this one has certain weaknesses."

"It's an excellent sword!" Complained the offended merchant.

"I do not deny it. It is fast, well used can kill an enemy before he can handle a heavier weapon. But its blade is very thin and against a skillful enemy with an ax or a club, it could break. In addition, the main reason for the purchase of a sword is my master's defense and this is mainly an offensive weapon. Do you have a hand and a half sword?" The merchant grumbled but agreed. "I think it would be more suited to my training."

"Did you also train with swords?" Louise asked.

" _Aff_ , the Clan give me a complete training in all military arts. Including the use of any weapons on the battlefield, from pistols, rifles, laser weapons, gyrojet guns, n- needle guns, blaser, knives, tactical defenses, swords, combat whips-"

"Ok! Ok! I understand." She interrupted him almost dizzy by the barrage of weapons named, a lot of them unknown to her.

"This is the size you asked for. It is the most select product of my store." The man said leaving a sword with an exquisite red sheath and a guard finely forged in gold metal. "This sword has been forged by the famous German alchemist Lord Spee. It can cut through iron as if it were butter." Kyle took it and pulled the sheet from the sling.

"It's beautiful. How much?" She asked.

"Two thousand écus, or three thousand new gold coins."

"What?! You can buy a holiday home with a garden with that!" Kyle put his sword on the counter, this time roughly.

"Do not bother, master. This sword is worthless."

"How dare you, boy? I am a honor-" Kyle turned to the merchant looking at him roughly and pointed to the sword as he began to speak in a strong and serious tone daring the old man to interrupt him.

"This sword has no balance, it weighs too much. It looks like it was plated with a golden metal to fool a customer with money. I do not think it is made of gold, but if it were, that metal is too soft to survive a blow against iron or steel, not to mention reinforced steel, durasteel or even plasteel. The blade is very wide and has no fuller for blood drain. So even if It could really cut the metal, with a couple of cuts to an enemy flesh the blade would lose the edge and could not continue cutting. The sheath is made of cloth and leather, the leather is not even embossed and the fabric looks fine and better suited for making clothes than for a weapon. This is a sword that would only carry a pretentious _stravag_ , not a warrior." The merchant stepped back a little. He trusted to deceive an unsuspecting noblewoman with a pretty sword, expensive and useless, but he didn't expect that her servant, despite his youth, to have knowledge of weapons.

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!" There was a laugh behind them. "I think you've been caught hard this time, shopkeeper."

"What _strav_ -? Who are you? Show yourself!" Kyle said turning around as he reached for his pistol holster.

"Oh! What a friendly mood!" The voice counter in a sarcastic tone. "But you seem to know about blades." Suddenly from a barrel full of old swords, one rose on top of the others alone. Kyle put his arm on Louise to stay behind her as he removed the clasp from the pistol holster. "I'm the legendary sword, Derffinger! Remember that!"

"The sword is talking?" Asked Louise.

"Kerensky's blood!"

"Hmm! I don't remember drinking the blood of anyone named like that, but I'm not sure, I'm pretty old."

"Could it be… that this is a sentient sword?" Louise was awed, she had heard stories about these rare artifacts, but had never seen one.

"That's right, lady. It's a sentient, magical, intelligent sword." The shopkeeper didn't look amused by the talking weapon. "But it's got a rotten tongue, always arguing with my customers. Hey, Derf! Keep up the insolence and I'll melt you!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha! I don't think you could heat a forge enough to melt me. Besides, you don't have a forge, you're just a salesman." Said the sword, something rusty and damaged but proud. Kyle ran his hand over his face in disbelief.

"It looks old" Louise spoke.

"I'm ancient, not old! You little brat!" The sword jumped a little in the barrel. "That I'm rusty does not mean I haven't seen lots of battles."

"It has temper." Kyle said recovering himself a little. "And the heart of a warrior." He took the sword. "Balanced, weight is correct, metal looks dense- very dense." He studied the edge. "I can see the multiple layers in which they forged it, almost looks like a sandwich armor." He slashed the air and grinned from ear to ear. "I like it, master, I will take this one."

"That one? But if it is rusty and-!"

"Master, do you remember what I said last night about noble weapons?"

"Yes." - Said the girl remembering it, then turned to the merchant. "How much?"

"Only one hundred, and I include a scabbard. It'll be a pleasure to get rid of that annoying sword."

"I feel the same old man!" Derffinger said. "Interesting... what's your name kid?"

"I am cadet Kyle of the bloodhouse Kerensky, former member of the Clan Wolf-in-Exile, now familiar and isorla of Master de la Vallière."

"Woooa! What a name! I'm surprised. So you are the 'user'"

"Sorry, I do not understand the 'user' term."

"Wow, you're not even aware of your ability. Nevermind, don't pay attention to that. Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. Kyle of the long name." The boy chuckled.

"Kyle would be enough." He nodded. "Likewise Derffinger." He said putting the sword in the scabbard and put it on his back, testing the weight of his new weapon. "I like you, you are not a Timber Wolf but I am sure I will make good use of you, Derffinger.

"I'm glad lad. If you don't mind you could start now, since I've been here I've been wanting to cut that damn old man in half."

* * *

When they left the alley, without even killing anyone yet, Kyle paused for a moment.

"Master?"

"What happen?"

"Maybe we should look for a blacksmith, not that _stravag_ merchant from before. He can help us get Derffinger in good shape."

"No need!" Said the sword. "No blacksmith has the knowledge to make me a dent."

" _Aff_ , it is possible, but I would still like the opinion of a specialist in that. Or having the tools to keep you in a better shape than what your previous owners have done. Unfortunately, my knife sharpening kit was in the barracks in Dust Bowl during my summoning."

"Why thank you. You're a sensible kid."

"In that case, I think we would ask in the market square while we continue shopping." Louise shrugged.

" _Aff_ , it is a good idea, master."

* * *

In the square, they were given the address of a city blacksmith which was specialized in weapons. As they were told, it was owned by a foreign couple who make weapons of all kinds, including muskets for the palace's firearm squad.

"It's called Nostra & West Armory, but everyone calls it the Troll Armory." The man said.

"Why that name?" Asked Louise searching for the money.

"You'll find out." Said the merchant after selling her a pair of pants for Kyle.

After the shopping, they headed for the armory address. When they arrived, Kyle remained stuck in front of the door. Louise looked at him surprised by the hesitant boy.

"What's the matter now?"

"I can read the sign."

"Those scribbles over its name? I suppose it will be written in two languages, the seller said they were foreign, doesn't have as much miste-"

"It says 'Terra Armament Factory' Terra is the name of the capital world of the Star League, the human race homeworld."

"What? Why was it going to have two different names? That makes no sense." She said looking at the boy before massaging her temples. "Whatever, we could enter and ask if you care so much about that." She looked at the doors. "These doors are huge." She said as they crossed them.

They both entered, and as soon as Louise did it, she screamed out in terror from the depths of her being. In front of her, carrying a longsword with one hand, there was a giant man, easily twice as tall as the girl, and with arms thick as tree logs.

"T- TROLL!" She shouted backing up to hit his familiar. Kyle didn't look frightened, the girl looked at him and realized he was staring at the creature in front of him.

"I knew the Nostra and West surnames remember me something. They are Bloodnames." He said looking at the giant man in front of him, dressed in work clothes. "You are Nova Cat Elementals, _quiaff_?

The eight ft tall man, with large muscles marking his silhouette, turned with a half smile towards the boy as he left the longsword he was cleaning on the counter. His tanned face was large and square, matching his size. He had a white knob and short hair studded with black and white tufts. His blue eyes looked at the boys with some amusement as he saw the boy's jumpsuit.

"Well, look at what the cat brings us today! A Wolf whelp, one armed to the teeth." He laughed lightly. " _Aff_ , little Wolf. I am the former Star-Captain Claus Nostra, also a former member of the Nova Cat Clan. I do not know you, but I think there is someone there who knows you… in a way." The man turned toward the door to a store. "Samantha!" He shouted in a voice that made Louise winced. "Your Void Wolf is here."

Louise flipped again as she saw the other person walk out through those unusually big doors. She was a woman, if ever there was an eight-and-a-half-ft woman with arms thicker than Nostra's, and huge, muscular legs that could be guessed through the slacks and the leather apron she wore. Stained with soot from top to bottom, including her white hair gathered in a thick braid that came to her waist, which did not help to reassure Louise, who was sure that with the cloth she used for clothing a tailor could dress three normal people.

"Could it be him?" She said upon entering. Her face flickered as she studied the boy. Nostra shrugged in amusement. "I dreamed of a Wolf, a young wolf with steel fangs mounted on a bird, in front of him are armies, behind him the void. It could be you?"

"K- Kyle, what she's talking about?" Asked the mage.

"The Nova Cats are a Clan like mine, but theirs believe they can see the future in their dreams and visions. Nova Cats often make military decisions based on prophecies seen by their Khans or other seers." He wasn't amused after discovering that the first clanners he found after his summoning were these 'mystical kitties'. Claus smiles toward the huge woman.

"It seems like a young Wolf to me, and is armed to the teeth right now. He lacks the bird, the enemy army, and the void, but I could see some resemblance in your original description. You said that he would come soon, a Day of Void, and there are no more Wolves in Tristania." Kyle grunted in disapproval.

"I am not the center of those stravag-rotting prophecies of yours! I'm Kyle of the Bloodhouse Kerensky, Clan Wolf-in-Exile!"

"Offspring of the Wolf." Said the woman with an absent and broken voice. "Could be him."

"What are you talking about?" The woman pulled away a little and seemed to regain some composure.

"I am- I was the Star-Colonel Samantha West of the Nova Cats Clan." She said with some martial touch. Kyle stiffened realizing who he was shouting. "One day, when I still was with the Clan, in our world, I had a dream-"

"Sam was a powerful oracle among the Nova Cats, even the Khans required her Vision sometimes." Clarified the other elemental, Samantha continued.

"-in that dream we were taken to an unknown land, to this land. There we would meet a young Wolf who would fight in a war that is to come. The dream showed me that he was the protector of a great power, a power along which a galaxy of OmniMechs was worthless." She breathed heavily. "It must be you! I know it! I saw it! I saw you!"

"Star-Coronel please, stop talking nonsense. In this world, I am just the familiar of my master, Louise. That is all I have to protect!" He said pointing to the girl. The female elemental turned as if she had just realized the existence of the girl.

"Are you from this world?"

"Y- yes-" Louise remembered everything Kyle had said to her about show confidence and reflect it in the voice. "Yes! I am Louise Françoise le Blanc de La Vallière! Daughter of the Duke of La Vallière! I summon Kyle to this world with my magic."

"That is new." Claus muttered. "Then, you are a mage, _quiaff_?" He asked, but Samatha raised her hand to him looking intently the girl.

"I- it is her! It is her!" Suddenly the woman's pupils opened as saucers. "The wheels are moving again... 6000 years later it will rise... 4 will unite to defeat... one is a monster and will not get to see it... another has a sealed destiny... the third is persecuted with his condition... the last will travel to the borders of sanity and suffering once before the end… I cannot see his destination. The Void Shroud blinds me, blinds the Vision. It does not want us here... were are interlopers... anomalies in itsplan, brought here by its mirror." Shesaid between tremors. Then she turned to Kyle. "Take care of the lion-bird, he will try to kill the heir of the three dragons, and will try to take her for him in the land in the heavens."

* * *

 **Duh! Duh! Duh!**

 **Yeah, the canon Halkeginia is suffering a dimensional leak case. How bad? You'll found soon.**

* * *

 **MasterXMaster:** **Karin is awesome, she alone deserve a Remembrance.**

 **Accursed Editor: Thanks! Already corrected.**

 ** **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...****


	8. Chapter 8

**Happy Holidays to all! Before the New Year I deliver to you a chapter, and it comes with gratuitous violence and a mind blowing** **discovery.**

 ** ** **I want to thank again (and again) my beta Poliamida** **for his help.******

* * *

Kyle finished closing his mech cockpit before going down its arm like an automaton and began to walk towards his master who was waiting for him in the courtyard. He hardly could walk, it was as if the air was as dense as water for him.

"Kyle-" She began worriedly, holding the bag that contained all that they had bought plus the sword. Normally, Kyle should be the one to do it, but the girl felt that her familiar already had too much weight on his shoulders.

"Apologies, master." He said in a mechanic tone. "Today I can not start your training. I need some spare time to assess my current situation."

"Oh! Yes… then... better leave the things in my room first."

Louise didn't understand her familiar's sorrow, but she wasn't an idiot. Something bad had happened to Kyle, something that she didn't fully understand. Why's the name of this world a problem for him? Nostra had had to hold him in the tavern when the boy seemed to go crazy. Even the giant had problems to control him despite his strength. After several minutes struggling the boy seemed to calm down and fell into that state of apathy.

The young mage followed the boy as he walked through the corridors with a weary step. Soon they crossed paths with a group of students, one of them smiling at the scene.

"What's the matter, Louise? Can't you make your familiar carry your things as he should?" He said mocking her. Kyle stopped, although he did nothing else, his back was slightly stooped and his hesitant step gave a pathetic look to his form.

"Come on guys, don't you remember that a mage's control over his familiar depends on his magical ability? It's normal that Louise can't-"

Kyle clenched his fists and turned his head slightly towards his master. She was standing her ground, looking at the boy in the face, with her chin high, but in her eyes, he saw that the jeering was hurting her. That every word hurt her. Kyle didn't understand much about some emotions, but he knew what pain was in its broadest definition. He had seen fear, and he also knew what fear was.

Throughout his life as a sibko whelp he had often felt fear. Especially fear of failure, of not being worth the effort of creating him, of failing the Clan at its most critical moment and even causing its downfall, of failing those under his command or his comrades in arms. His life was a map of fear and pain. He remembered Viter, with his marksmanship skill problems. How many of his teammates gave him as a lost cause. Giving him as unfit, as a failure, someone not worthy to be a warrior, a resource waste. He remembered how Viter fought with all his strength to avoid that fate, not with courage but desperation. How he discovered his defect and how he tortured himself physically and mentally with his training to correct it. He imagined Louise trying to do magic and failing, failing and failing without stopping, without an iota of hope, standing between ridicule and insults from his companions. He imagined her in that courtyard praying for her familiar to appear, knowing that if she didn't she would be expelled. He almost tasted her fear, because he had fell it before.

For Louise that last spells was all or nothing, like Viter. Kyle couldn't fail her, no matter what happened to him, that was secondary. He couldn't do her the same thing he almost did to Viter. Never.

Kyle's left fist tightened, and with a movement that none of the others saw, it crashed into the face of the student who was speaking. It wasn't a calculated blow, it was a totally wild punch. Everything he had was discharged in that blow, two teeth of the boy went flying and another pair broke. But that didn't matter to Kyle. He gave an animalistic scream, a mix of a wolf howl and a roar, and project his knee at the second noble. The student hadn't even time to process what had just happened. A moment his friend was there mocking the failure that was the daughter of de la Vallière, and the next second he wasn't there. In his place a mix of man and beast who roared before attacking him. By the time he was able to process that he was lying on the floor puking and struggling to breathe.

The third wasn't more lucky, he had the time to draw his wand, but before he managed to fill his lungs to make an incarnation a disagreeable crunch announced that two of his fingers had been broken by the howling beast with human skin. Before he could even scream, Kyle's left fist crashed into his face, not once, not twice, but three times, as the crazed familiar screamed out with each blow. Then he grabbed the young nobleman by the neck and one side of the hip and lifted him over the head, preparing the knee to split the spine in two.

The howl turned into a vicious roar similar to a tiger or a lion.

"STOP! STOP! BY THE FOUNDER! KYLE, STOP!" He heard Louise's screams as someone grabbed him from behind, struggling uselessly to make him stop.

He breathed out heaved, he was tired, more than ever in a so short fight like that. He started to breathe heavy turning at the girl. "Master?"

"Please, leave him! Stop Please!" The girl was crying. Kyle's arms began to weigh him

"I- master, they were mocking you."

"I know, but leave them, they won't do it again. - She hugged tightly Kyle's chest. Kyle looked at those pink eyes, now full of tears, and that same color hair. A few hours ago they would have seemed alien to him. Not now. Now he knew the truth. He released the boy who fell pathetically on the ground. That he started calling his mother crying was just the icing.

"I- master- I am unable to continue-"

"What?"

"This- situation is too much for me." He sat on the floor next to the whining boys. "I can not stand it. You should look for another familiar, I can not... If the contract is until the death of one of us, I can-"

A Hard Slap -with capitals- made his head turn. Louise had dropped the bag, his sword, and slapped him as hard as she could.

"Listen to me you stupid damn dog!" She screamed. "I've spent a year and a half in this academy suffering the mockery of guys like those just to summon you! You're crazy if you think I'm going to let you collapse so easily. I don't care what those overgrown Cats said to you, you are my familiar! You said so several times!"

"B- but master… if what they say is true- the Clans- do not exist- the Clans are not forever-"

"You are a member of the Clans, right? Claus and Samantha too. That means they still exist. And, may the Founder assist us, maybe someone wants to belong to your clan. I heard that Guiche doesn't stop looking for you to ask your forgiveness and offer you a gift." Kyle frowned, not in a million years, or in the worst Clans' moment, he would accept that dezgra. "Do you want me to have more confidence in myself? Why don't you start with yourself? Damn sstravaaag." She tried to imitate Kyle's language. "You behave like a- a- estravag and a- and- and all those weird words you said before! Maybe everything you told me before wasn't worthy of being heard? Maybe you lied to me… to your master!" She kicked the ground. Kyle lowered his face for a second. He was a representative of the Clan Wolf-in-Exile, the only one in that country in fact, maybe the last one. And how had he behaved? Like a frightened pup. If the Father raised his head from his grave he would only feel ashamed. Kyle couldn't indulge himself like that.

"I- I did not lie to you, master. But you had reason to behave like that here. I am unworthy."

"That is! Then collect our things and we'll start training."

" _Aff_ , master." He stood up. "Although you will end up regretting saying that."

"Do you think I'm a pushover?"

"Never, master." He stared at her. After that sample of character, Kyle felt a sensation that ran from his back to the head and then down the belly to reach his crotch. If she behaved that way more often, she would need many more cold showers. That kind of character on girls attracted him a lot. "Very good master. I am going to teach someone from your world how to be a clanner. Will you be able to do it?" Perhaps in that world, in that reality, there had not been either the Father or the Founder, but he was still his descendant, and they were watching him, he had to recover he had to deserve having their blood in his veins.

"I'm a noble, I will not back down."

"Well said master." He looked around. "And them?"

"They won't say anything." She adopted a sarcastic tone. "After all, it's impossible for a commoner to defeat three nobles barehanded." She tapped the one who had received the knee with the tip of her foot. "Isn't it?" Kyle bit the inside of his cheek. He loved seeing a girl behaving like that.

[Flashback]

Finally Nostra and West stopped talking prophecies about Kyle, Louise, and more abstract subjects. That was a good thing since Kyle had run out of patience. When the two boys told them they were there, the elementals were greatly surprised, despite having spent more than a decade there making weapons they had never seen a speaking sword. Although they immediately got used to the idea. After all, it was like the computer voice of power armor or a Mech: a weapon with a voice. After leaving the sword with West, which wanted to try something to remove the rust and leave it shining, they left the shop with Nostra who wanted to take them to see a place.

"Partner! I don't think they can do anything, I was forged with magic spells that protect me from damage."

"Noted." Kyle said smiling maliciously. "But they are Elementals, part of their job is tear off fragments of armor from the enemy war machines with their hands."

"THE WHAT?" The sword almost bounced out of its sheath.

"Have no fear, Derffinger, she will not hurt you. The Star-Coronel will just give you a well-deserved maintenance." He said while leaving with the others.

Outside the shop, Louise looked at Nostra. "R- really you can tear metal with your bare hands?" She said scared.

The man laughed in a thunderous way. " _Neg_ , only when we have our power armor. Without it, we could only tear little girls arms." He said making a gesture with his hands towards Louise, who put Kyle between both as a barrier. The giant laughed again. "Hahaha! It was a small joke, little one!"

Kyle changed the subject to avoid more problems with his master. "How did you get here?" Nostra was thoughtful for a moment.

"It was during the Jihad-"

"The Jihad?"

"I will explain later. Now it would only add confusion to my explanation. Our ship was about to deploy us on Ma- a planet controlled by the Blakists-"

"You are speaking about that Word of Blake fanatics who split off from ComStar, _quiaff_?"

" _Aff_ , we allied with the forces of the Precentor Martial Victor Steiner-Davion and Devlin Stone to launch a series of attacks against them."

"B- but Star-Captain, as far as I know, Victor Steiner-Davion was recently designed as Precentor Martial. You were here for ten years."

"Whelp, stop interrupting me." He looked annoyed. "I will explain later. Our goal was to reach Terra and destroy the Word of Blake war machine, but as we approached Mar-" Kyle was about to interrupt again, but Nostra looked at him definitely. "we received heavy fire from several warships, pocket warships, and aerospace fighters. In addition to Caspar drones."

" _Freebirths_! They dared?"

" _Aff_ , they dare to recreate the Caspar technology. Those dezgra had developed combat drones similar to those that existed at the time of the Star League, not so powerful, but still fearsome."

"It is awful! It is... it is an offense to the hundreds of millions who died in the Amaris coup at the hands of those machines!"

"S- sorry." Both clanners looked at the girl. "But what is a Caspar?" Nostra pondered for a moment. But Kyle managed to explain it to her before him.

"Master, please think about Derffinger. It is a weapon with intelligence, quiaff?"

"Yes, I- I think it is."

"Then, imagine machines the size of a mountain that can fight without anyone piloting them. With such a high speed that if someone were inside they would die by acceleration crushed against their insides. With weapons capable of reducing to ashes a city in minutes and boil a sea. All of them controlled by an intelligence similar to Derffinger, but designed only to destroy, with a resolution that makes them fight while a weapon of their arsenals is still working. And even without weapons, they will try to destroy the enemy using its bodies as a battering ram. During the fall of the Star League, millions died because of those weapons, the Caspar drones. The General Kerensky, my ancestor, commanded to destroy all of them and the methods and techniques to build them again, no living being should have such dishonorable and coward power."

"By the Founder!" She opened her eyes wide after hearing that.

"Aff, little one, it was a terrible weapon." The elemental said. "As I was saying, during the approach to that planet a group of pocket warships attacked us. Normally that would not be a problem, we had the destroyers _Rover_ and _Hunter_ and the frigate _True Vision_ protecting us. But their cowardice and slander know no limits. We did not expect being attacked by nuclear devices in that numbers and intensity."

" _Dezgras_!" Kyle's eyes exuded hatred. Claus nodded.

"Our dropship was damaged. The last thing I remember during the attack was seeing how the outer bulkhead of the hangar where we were standing, disappeared. And then, instead of dying, two points of Nova Cats Elementals and some techs were lying on a green field near the capital of Tristain. Of course, at that time, we ignore that."

"Two points?"

"In fact, fourteen warriors and three techs of ours come, but four of our fellow brothers were injured by the decompression and did not survive. The ones farther from the bulkhead had more luck, we only had minor injuries or bruises."

"By the ghost of Kerensky! And I complained about my arrival here."

"How was it?"

"I was in a training exercise when I crossed a greenish oval and ended up hitting the grounds at the Academy of Magic in front of my master." He neglected to say anything about the mech.

"You were lucky, I know about a man who was falling from a building and ended up in a nearby river. He was rescued but died several days later due fever."

"How do you know he is not a simple-"

"He said he was falling from a burning skyscraper." He pointed to his surroundings challenging the boy to found one in that city.

"Does that mean there are more like you?" Louise asked a little concerned.

"Many, throughout Tristain we will have about three hundred. Living in different cities and towns, most have settled here like us. Although there are groups that prefer to live in other places, mainly because of affiliation issues. A couple of inhabitants of Kentares IV left the city for a nearby town when they discovered that several kuritans lived here. In our case, Samantha an I helped an old man who was being assaulted by bandits. He turned out to be a weapon manufacturer, swords especially. He taught us how to forge weapons and later we started with the manufacture of firearms. In fact, we managed to revive his shop with and an exclusive contract with the palace firearms guard. After all, the muskets of other armorers cannot be compared to our breech-loading rifles. Then he died without heirs and he left everything to Sam and me."

"Breech-loading rifles?" Kyle asked. "They have that kind of tech-"

" _Neg_ , the only had smooth bore muzzleloader muskets. We decided to win the competition against the other manufacturers using our knowledge. We have two techs working for us and we got the help of a disinherited mage with alchemy knowledge. With his alchemy backing our ideas, we were able to create cases for the projectiles. After that, a single-shot breech-loading rifle was easy to manufacture. Tristain has the best marksman corps because they have our rifles." He stopped in front of a tavern. "We have arrived."

Kyle saw the establishment, as the armory had two signs, one in which in gallian (as Louise said) said Five Elements Inn, and another in English that said End of the World Inn.

"We use two names in our shops to help the newcomers find us. Even if they do not know English, They know that they are written in English and they come in to ask for help. Whether we can help them or not is another matter."

"Why?" Asked Louise.

"Many people do not assimilate the arrival. Finding yourself in a world that is the opposite of yours, without things you have given as granted. Some can not cope with it." He had a hark look. "Sometimes, it is just horrible to see something you can not explain, something that turns around all the settled ideas of the world that you may have." He looked at Louise. "Imagine that you are transported to a world where magic does not exist, or where magicians are hunted by commoners. You would feel confused and afraid, quiaff?" He opened the door and invited the boys to enter.

The tavern immediately called the attention of the boys. For Kyle it was full of pictures on the walls with images of Mechs, combat vehicles, modern buildings, ships, and even images of spacecrafts, although he couldn't identify some. Behind the bar there was a half-burned aircraft stabilizer. On the opposite side of a small stage, a man was talking with a young woman of Kuritan appearance while they were reviewing a piano, next to the woman a little girl of just over 5 years old with a sailor dress was sitting on a chair while humming a lullaby. Next to the stage, they could see a powered-off old and ornate jukebox. Kyle also saw a couple of empty computer mainframes, similar to those used in the era of the Star League, used now as part of the furniture. The inn had a communal space with some reserved alcoves at the back of the room with thick black curtains to give more privacy to those who used them.

It seemed that many more things had reached that planet, but almost all broken and useless. Kyle felt a stitch of apprehension. His mech, his working battlemech, was possibly more valuable than he thought.

There were a few clients, some exchanged looks of familiarity with Nostra. For Louise, everything was full of strange images (although she slightly recognized the mechs of the paintings as machines similar to her familiar's machine) and even more weird objects.

The waiter, a short, Mediterranean-looking man, greeted Nostra. Which led them to an alcove but didn't close the curtain.

"As you can see, we usually meet here in our spare time." The huge man smiled. "Everything here is full of references to our origins, rescued from our arrivals. But it is a misfortune that we do not have the means to make almost all of them work again. I am curious to know how the old jukebox sounds." A sad smile appeared on his face. "Sam, her old personal techs, and I are repairing a two Elemental armors we found years ago. They arrived almost heavily damaged here. Unfortunately, we still do not know how to recharge them." Kyle clenched his teeth, his mech produced enough energy to feed a small town, but if there were mechwarriors among the group they might want to steal his machine. Kyle reminded himself that he should program a code-access in his machine when he returned and not say anything about it at the moment.

"Why do you want to repair... that?" Louise asked. "There has been no war in Halkeginia for quite some time."

Nostra laughed. "That is good little one! Why do we want that? Why do you want your magic? We are Clan elementals, we are warriors, we were born warriors!" He proudly declares. "Besides that, I do not know if you have heard about the war in Albion. It never hurts to stay prepared."

The waiter appeared at that moment, and he took the orders. But when he looked at Kyle he frowned. "Are you new?"

" _Aff_." Kyle said without hesitation.

"Fuck! Another clanner? You're everywhere Claus." The big man just shrugged smiling. The waiter looked at Kyle again. "Wait here."

After a while, he came back with a wooden box in his hands.

"Here it is." He said putting the box on the table. "A couple of books to learn how to read this weird language they have here. They were printed by some Kuritans with a manual printing they have. Although I think the original volume was written by a Lyran historian so sorry if you find some contractions in it. You also have a map of Tristain, a list of relative prices to know when you are being scammed or not, and a list of the places where there are people of ours. It's what we call the 'Basic survival kit for interdimensional novices.'"

"Interdimensional?" Kyle asked.

"Oh! Haven't you explained it yet?" The waiter glanced at the elemental who narrowed his eyes.

"I was trying." Nostra sounded annoyed.

"What _stravag_ no-sense are you talking about?"

"You always liked to talk in circles, as the others Nova Cats. Look boy."- The waiter said pointing to a map behind him. "See that map? It is the map of part of this world." Then he pointed to another map, which Kyle recognized as a very old world map of Terra. "Check the Europe region. It is familiar, isn't it?"

"Victor, you are a _stravag_ -" The elemental looked angry and really annoyed for the first time.

"I already know it. But what I said is the truth. He surely thought that this world was another of your 'Sphere' or 'Periphery' worlds. But he has to know it. After all, when I arrived here, I didn't have the excuse of thinking that I was in another colonized world because I was already living on Earth, or Terra as you call it, long before you created that jumping ships. I knew where I was from the moment I saw the map of this continent."

"But you could have waited until-"

Kyle stood incredulous, forgiving the two arguing men, the maps were almost the same, the map of that world was something coarser and simple but the similarity was too big to go through another thing. He approached both maps. _It can not be ... it was not ... it is not poss- Neg! This can not be happening. I can not be in Terra!_

'Interdimensional novices.' He was on Terra, a different Terra that the Clans venerated, but the Clans wouldn't do that anymore. Because the clans didn't exist there. The Clan worlds didn't exist, maybe they were there, thousands of years light away, but void, without humans populating them. Tamar too and Arc-Royal... and... and _Strana Mechty_... either. Which meant that in geosynchronous orbit with its now non-existent capital there would not be the _McKenna Pride_. And inside it wouldn't be the body of General Aleksandr Kerensky, the father of the Clans.

 **[Flashback end]**

* * *

 **Duh! Duh! Duh! Again**

 **On a small note, Halk here looks like the real Europe, in fact Gallia looks like France and Spain together.**

 **MasterXMaster: Well, you aren't wrong, but you aren't** **completely right about Siesta.** **Her grampa wasn't a mechwarrior. I suppose that this chapter explain your questions.**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


	9. Chapter 9

**The holidays ended, now is february and I bring a new chapter.**

 **Ok I'm mildy scared about this one. As I said before this is notan usual crossover between two franchises.**

 ** ** **Thanks to my beta Poliamida** **for his help.******

* * *

Louise fell exhausted on her bed, her stamina had come just enough to take a bath and return to her room. Just enough so that his familiar didn't see how her legs were shaking, and not out of fear or anger, but out of sheer fatigue.

Her feet pulsed from running and jumping, her thighs ached as if someone had cut them in half and her calves were trembling with cramps. She could barely walk upright from the pain on the back. Her arms were the same as her thighs and her hands were bruised from trying to hit Kyle and only meeting his blocks with his hard-as-steel forearms. The worst thing was that her familiar had stayed a little longer training on his own because he said he hadn't done enough exercise that day. At least she had managed to convince him so that the next sessions would be after classes, not before, as the boy intended. Going class after that kind of work regime would have been impossible.

Shortly after touching the bed, she fell asleep.

* * *

Kyle finished his exercises, feeling somewhat more tired than the usual. Teaching someone new how to exercise properly was difficult. But at least it seemed that all the riding that Louise practiced had given the girl a better shape than he expected. Or maybe it was the fact that she didn't use magic for everything as her companions did. Her punches were strong, very strong, despite being badly given.

He went to the kitchen, it was dinner time and he was hungry. He also thought to ask for something for his master, after all, she deserved it. Something sweet to fight the stiffness that she would surely have tomorrow.

When he entered the kitchen he found the staff especially quiet and taciturn.

"Oh!" Marto was distracted and thoughtful. "H- hi, Kyle.

"Good evening to you, kitchen chief Marto." He looked around. "Something is wrong, _quiaff_?"

"Haven't you heard about that?"

"Neg. I do not know what is 'that'. I have been in the capital a noticeable part of the day and when I got back I had... other duties. Please, explain what 'that' is."

"They've taken Siesta." Said the man sitting heavily on a bench.

"Take her? Where?" He furrowed. "Who?"

"It was that perv- it was Count Mott!" One of the cooks bolted. "The stories about him are horrible."

"Shut up, Charlo! If the nobles find out-"

"What stories?"

* * *

Derfflinger raised a little from his scabbard when his partner adjusted it to the side of the battlemech command seat. Although not all the rust had gone away, he was a bit more gleaming than before entering the elemental's shop.

"Woah! Partner! You look a lot better." Then he looked where he was. "Are we going somewhere?"

"We are going to kill a _dezgra_." Kyle put on the neurohelmet and connected the cables.

"¿Dezgra? Is it some kind of animal?" He looked at the cockpit. "A big one maybe?"

"He is somewhat lower, does not even deserve to be compared to a surat excrement."

"Pal, I don't understand you."

"A noble hired an academy servant. She is a friend, and the other servants told me stories about how he hires young beautiful commoners to… force-slave them." A rage growl almost escapes from his throat. "When he gets tired of them he made the girls disappear." The 'Mech finally was fully activated when he pressed the last buttons of the boot sequence.

Reactor Online. Sensors Online. Weapons Online. All Systems Nominal. The female synthesized voice of the Mech's computer filled the cockpit.

"Oy! Who are you, beautiful?" Derff beamed when he heard the voice. "Are you some kind of talking weapon like me?" Kyle raised a hand to avoid having his sword trying to hit his' Mech.

"We are going to rescue her and kill that human waste."

Kyle adjusted the Jump Jets air intakes at total opening. He didn't have much mass reaction, so he would have to use them only vacuuming air, which wasn't recommended unless he wanted to open a hole in the wall of the Academy with the ER CPP, which would surely bring problems. He moved the 'Mech to the other side of the courtyard, starting a run, and jumped.

* * *

Louise, despite her sheer fatigue, woke up sharply, the room shaking. In pain, she approached the window and saw the final glint of Kyle's Mech's Jump Jets.

"Damn dog! Where in the name of the Founder is he going now?"

She dragged herself out of her room, but at that moment she bounced against Kirche's breasts and fell on her rear. Her cheeks hurting from the fall was the 'perfect' end for that terrible day.

"Zerbst! Don't you know how to look at where you're going?"

"I should tell you that." Said the germanian with a smug tone while holding over her shoulder a leather strap from which hung an object that she carried on her back. "I was going to see my dearest darling, but that noise tells me that I'll have to wait to give him my gift." She thumbed at the strap showing the sword that Kyle had rejected hours earlier. "Where has he gone?"

"I'm going to find out." She said getting up and running as she could towards the stables, stifling a laugh. Good luck with the sword, germanian bitch. She was going to punish Kyle, but at least he had given her a little joy.

* * *

Kyle jumped without Jump Jets above the road. Marto's directions were clear, and the night vision systems allowed him to see perfectly in that darkness, especially having two huge full moons. There was little left for Count Mott's mansion. When he saw the great bronze doors he accelerated.

* * *

The two guards at the entrance of Mott manor were pretty bored that night.

"Have you seen the new maid? She's really an eye candy, they say she comes from the Academy." The tall one rubbed his hands trying to warm them up.

"As if that mattered. The Count is quite possessive with his new toys... I almost feel sorry for her." The shorter man spoke.

"Almost?"

"Well…" An evil grin appeared on his face. "Sometimes the Count lets us have fun before getting rid of them." He said with a cruel laugh.

 _Trump!_ Something sounded in the distance.

"What was that?" The first guard turned around raising the spear.

 _Trump!_ Sounded again.

"It sounded like something heavy had-"

 _Trump!_ This time closer. _Trump!_ And faster.

"Something is coming! We have to raise the alarm!"

"Wait! If we give the alarm again without a good reason like the last time, the Count-" _Trump!_ The second guard didn't continue speaking because the sound was clearly threatening. It was getting stronger and faster, almost becoming like the steps made by a giant creature. The earth began to tremble slightly. "Look over there! " Screamed falling on his back.

When his companion saw, he saw how several trees moved in a strange way, as if accompanying the sound. _It's strange on that side of the road there's no tre- Brimir balls!_ The shaking trees weren't trees but a huge humanoid figure heading towards the door. His companion tried to stand up leaving his spear, but fear made him trip over it.

 _Trump! Trump! TRUMP! TRUMP! **TRUMP! TRUMP!**_ The ground tremor was already brutal. He quickly grabbed his partner from the ground and pulled him. The creature was running right to the door, to them. He managed to do it out just in time. The creature collided with the heavy bronze door, which bent like straw. The hinges went off and the arch of the door exploded as if it had been blown up in the air (or if a 30 tons giant would have rammed it to about 120 kilometers per hour). The last thing the men saw was a cow-sized piece of masonry flying toward them.

* * *

Kyle entered the property while activating the external microphones and thermal sensors. He was looking for human-sized head sources through the walls of the mansion. He had stumbled slightly as he passed through the door but with an unnatural ease he stabilized the machine and continued to operate the controls looking for Siesta. Just at that moment, a warning light caught his attention, it was the communication console.

"By the ghost of Kerensky!" Radio there? That was impossible. An audio and video signal, and it came from a nearby source. He put it on one of the cockpit's auxiliary screens. " _Freebirth_!"

* * *

Lord Mott shook the girl again and in an act of rage and lust, he gave her a pull on her apron and maid's clothes, tearing them apart.

"Tell me damn plebeian! How does it work?" He said holding her by the torn clothes and shaking with the other hand a strange object in front of the girl.

"P- please! I don't know what you're talking about! "The Count furious hit her with the object, throwing her against the ground.

"If you don't want to talk maybe he will!" He said pointing to a luminous sphere in the middle of the warehouse's manor where they were at the moment. "It has been fortunate to find you in the Academy, far from the town's lord. Now he can't protect you." He raised the object again. "Tell. Me. Now." Siesta whined. "No? Fine then." He turned to the sphere.

Inside the sphere, a black substance in constant movement was trying to tear the light's walls of it, but without any success, when Mott hit the girl, the mass went crazy hitting with multiple peduncles the surface with fury.

"Come on, you know you can't get out of that magic sphere. You've been trying for ten years. Now tell me how it works or... you know what I'll do to this girl." He turned and smiled at Siesta, not a pleasant smile. "Don't waste more energy trying to get out of my spell. You know that only if I want it or if I die will that orb shield will open up." A triumph smile crossed the noble's face. "You can't allow me to do that to your only friend's daughter, right?" He said approaching the girl, taking off her cloak and loosening the sash. The mass inside the sphere hit the walls of its prison with more fury and almost despair.

Siesta remained in a fetal position on the floor, the blow had left her dizzy and dazed. When she focused her eyes again he saw Mott undressing.

"P- please- n- no." She said with the little voice she had left.

Just before the Count started to pull down his pants, a guard came running.

"My lord something has destroyed the front door and entered the manor! It looks like a metal giant!" Mott turned at the guard furious for being interrupted, but when he heard the description of the intruder he let out a laugh even though suddenly a series of loud sounds were heard in the distance.

"Yes! Finally!" He grabbed the object with which he used to hit Siesta and asked her. "You have used it, haven't you? How? How did you call it? I need to control it. Tell me!"

"It̶ ͜was̶ ͞m̨e." A raspy voice and reverberating voice that came out of the sphere. "We̸l̷l͟,̸ a͝c͘tually he w̵ąs͝ ̧al̶re͏aḑy̛ ̕c̶om͡i͘n͠g ͘al̀onè, ̨b͏ut͢ ̀n̸ow̛ t̸h͝a͠nks t̸o͟ ͜me,̶ ͘he know̧s̡ w͠h̴e͟r͡è yo͏u̷ ̸are̴." The amorphous mass said waving a peduncle.

 ** _Crash!_**

Then something went through the wall of the warehouse. It looked as if a cannonball had hit it. Mott was thrown to the ground and the room was filled with dust. When the noble got up and the smoke dissipated he could see a gigantic hand that had crushed the guard. Leaving only a show of blood and gore. The punch was so violent that the head of the man had separated from the torso before it became a crushed mass of bones and bloody flesh under the hand of the metal giant. The maid was screaming, but he, he was exhilarated. He finally had achieved it.

* * *

Kyle couldn't believe it. The transmisión was a live video broadcast and the location of the building where the Count and Siesta were. He didn't know what was happening, but he wasn't going to miss the opportunity. Kyle ran to the warehouse and pointed to the thermal silhouette furthest away from the one that remained on the ground in a fetal position, then he threw a punch with such force that the straps of the command chair stuck to his skin, leaving marks despite the cooling vest anti-ballistic andgoretex mesh.

* * *

Mott was ecstatic. How much power! And all his for the taking. He only had to use this ancient artifact to control the Guardian and he would be the most powerful man in the kingdom! More than the Vallière, the Anjou or the Gramonts. Enough to get what he really wanted. He licked his lips thinking about Princess Henrietta's body. He was currently only the royal courier. A noble of whom many things were said, and many of them true. Perverted, ambitious, petty, fond of exotic artifacts gratifying the maniac, and a long etcetera. He couldn't even dream of him receiving the princess' attention. But if he possessed a Sacred Guardian he could gain it. Mott only had to call a few favors across the border and it was more than possible that a Germanian regiment would stray inside their territory. An error that could be interpreted as a hostile act. But then, when the fate of Tristain would be at the stake, he would appear with his guardian to annihilate the honorless Germanians. Only that would equal the Heavy Wing's actions. And from there to war would be only one step, a war that Tristain's small army would win thanks to the selfless help of a certain Count and his tireless Guardian. At that time he would take advantage of his popularity to woo the princess, and being king... His imagination flew by the girls of the service, by the princess, now his queen, young and delicious nobles who prostrated themselves in front of him. As he left his reverie, he raised his wand and the device and began to recite a spell to try to bind the presence. The hand withdrew and Mott leaned into the opening, dodging what was left of the guard, and continued reciting the control spell in front of the guardian's face. For a moment he looked upset, it wasn't the one he wanted, he was more humanoid than the one he was looking for, smaller too. Not as threatening than the other, but it had some kind of huge weapon on the shoulder. The noble decided not to complain, the construction seemed quick and agile, maybe that would be better for him.

"Zunmoi fen xi ist!" He finished chanting and shot a beam of light at the Guardian's head.

* * *

The polarized crystal darkened when the cockpit was hit by the beam, but the indicators told Kyle that there was no appreciable damage or other effects from the discharge. Whatever the light the mage had thrown did, it was useless against his Mech's crystal and cockpit. Kyle activated the manual control mode of the right arm and grabbed Count Mott with the same hand that had crushed the guard. The nobleman was surprised and began to shout, trying to say something. Kile activated the external microphones.

"I have the sacred artifact! Obey me, Oh guardian!" He said raising an archaic neurohelmet with his free hand.

"By the Forefather!" Kyle swore, before activating the PA system. "Where did you get that neurohelmet from?" He pointed the object with the other Mech's hand.

"From a fool trader who I get rid of him long ago. He didn't want to give me this power. He said I was crazy. But ... who is crazy now? Oh, guardian! Now I am your master!" Then the noble noticed how the hand's pressure increased. A pain in the back of Kyle's head triggered.

"I only have one master! And she does not rape and kill helpless freeborns by the virtue of a power she does not deserve!"

"Ahhh! Wait- I have- y- you- you're my sla-" With a fast movement, Mott's body exploded in a rain of blood and gore under the hand's pressure, before half of the upper body fell to the ground with an unpleasant splash. Kyle shook the Mech's hand against the ground trying to clean it up until the gave up the battle, he would have than doing it by hand.

Kyle jumped out of the 'mech with Derff unsheathed, dressed only in the cooling vest and his mechwarrior shorts. For some reason, he felt stronger when he carried it, just like when he was piloting his machine. He entered the warehouse. He took out the flashlight from the survival kit that he attached to a pocket of his vest before shut down the machine and swept the area. Finally, the light illuminated a pair of legs in the ground. It was Siesta, who was sobbing in a fetal position.

"Siesta?" He exclaimed. "I am Kyle!"

"Kyle?" Answered a muffled voice followed by sobs. He feared he was late. He ran to her and illuminated her body with the flashlight, her maid's dress was torn and she had a bruise on her check.

"I came to rescue y-" The girl began to sob and hugged the boy.

"I was very scared! I- I thought- I thought that h- he-" Kyle smiles at her.

"He will never try that again, Siesta. He is dead." He clenched his fists. "He had a better death than he deserved."

"Y- you killed a noble?" She broke the hug and looked at him with a rictus of terror on her face. "Founder! Kyle, you don't know what you've-"

"H̕e̵ ̶ki̶l͢le̸d̛ ̴a des͘p̶íca̸b̧l͘e͡ ̴b҉e̶įng͝,͞ ̶not a ͢n͏ob͝ļe." That was the same voice that the girl heard before, only that the sphere no longer existed. The voice came out of the darkness, from some point they couldn't see. Kyle turned to where he thought the voice was.

"Show yourself!"

"I ҉hope you҉ ̕r̵éce͜ived ͡t̨h͝e ̸tr̨an̷sm̶i̧ssiơn҉ ̴we͠l͘l.̀ But..͡. ̸gi̕ven ̶t́he ̡ŕe͝su̴lt͞ş I̴ w̕ơu͝ld̨ say ҉ye̵s͏."

"How can you send a radio signal in this world?"

"I'̢m̷ ͠a r͟e҉sou͝rc̶ef̶ul p̸e̛rsǫn̵, ҉íf͘ ͜I̡ c͢a̶n̕ ́us͞e͡ t͜he ͏t̢e̸rm̀ ̴ṕe̡rs̵óņ.̢ Althoug̷h, ͘I m̕ust́ ̴a̛d̴mit ̵t́ha̶t̛ ̴if̵ ͡yo̴u̢ ̀had͘n't͏ a̴ppear͏ęd̷ ͏wi͠t͏h ͡t͟ha͟t bat͏tlęmech ̸I ̡s̢ho͞u͘ĺd͘ ͡have s͘uŕr̵én͞dȩr͝e͡d҉ and͜ ̀to͢ld M͡ot̴t҉ ͏ev̢e̛r͏y͡t҉hi͜ng̡.̸ ͜ I̧, ̸l̛ik̛e yo̸u, wa͡ǹt t̶o̡ ͜pr҉ot̵ec͡t͜ ̵S̛iest̸a͏.҉"

"Tell him what? Who are you? Answer me now!" Kyle took his flashlight again.

"M͘o͞tt ̷w̧ant̨ed͜ t̸o ̀kn͘ow̵ ̛how͡ ̀tǫ c̷ǫn͘t̀ról͠ a͝ "G̷u͞a̡rdi͠àn"̧, t҉h̀at͞ ́is, a ͘Ba̴ttle͟mec͜h. ̷He̕ w̸as̸ v̨er͘y ̧s͠tup̸i̢d҉,́ ͏h͜e͡ sti̛ll b̀e͢l̶ie̷ved͠ ̵t͠ha͟t͟ ͞t̨hey ͢w͘e͞r̷e l̵i͜k̡e s͟t҉on̷e ̧g҉ole͏m̧s̛. I̧t was͡ S̡ie̢sţa'̢s̨ ̨fath̵er w̶hò ͡to̸l̵d h̀i͘m̸ ̕t̕h͠a͟t̴ ̸l̴i͞e͟.͝ ͏He͢ ͝t̴h͝o̕ugh҉t ̴thát ̸i͢n ̕t͡h͢a͢t̢ w̡a̴ỳ ͢he would s͜to͟p͡ ͡t́ryi̢n̨g̀ t̵o̢ ̶o͜f͡f̨e̛r u҉s͜ m̵on͏ey͢ for ͢som̴e͜thi͡ng̛ ͠w͜e d̀id̶ń't͜ want́ t́o ̨g̴iv͢ę ̀hi͢m." The voice stopped for a second. "He d͞i͠d̀n'̛t̵ ̀g̡ive̶ up͟. Jús͘t af̵te҉r̨ ̶you̸r̶ ̴fath̷e͏r'̧s disap҉p̵ear҉an̢ce ҉he͏ ͢ca̴pt̡ur̀ed͠ me in ͟t͜h͝at m͜agic… thing.͏" A shadow moved in the warehouse. **"** **I͠ RE̕A͟L̸LY ́HA҉TÈ MAGIC̸!͞"** They didn't understand the last sentence but the tone was terrified.

"My father? But he-" Siesta spoke.

"D̵o͠ y̴ou̴ r҉ememb͢er wh͘a̶t your fa̧ther was working on?̧"

"Yes, my mother told me that at first, he helped in the field. But later he started to buy an sell exotic objects and relics to the nobles, and that is what I remember when he was with us. Then, when he disappeared, we sold almost everything he had in the warehouse but we barely gain enough to live."

"Sorr͢ý,͜ ͜i̡t͠ ͏was̡ ͢my̛ du͟t̷ty ̶l̕ookin̨g ͞fo̕r͜ y̵ou̷ if ̛he went ̨m̡issing͟,̢ but ҉the Ćo̷u̕nt͢ to͞ok áḑva͡n̛t͘ag̡e̛ ̴of̵ t̡he҉ a͝ttack ͝o͘n ͟th͏e ͢to̵wn͟ ͜a͘n̴d t͏hat̶ I w͝a̵sn't ҉w̨i͡th̢ ̸y͘oųr f̀at͘hȩr to͟ c̨ąp̷tu̶r҉e m҉e.́" A shadow approached slowly in the dark, it was huge. "Y͢o̧u͢ŗ f̢a͜t͠h̡e͠r͜ ̵ha̡d̕ ̨a҉noth҉er̸ ͡w͝ar͢ehouse̡." Despite Kyle's warnings, the girl approached the shadow.

"Y- you- Wait! A- another warehouse?" She raised a hand towards the shadow it reeled back.

"Ye̸s͘,̸ ̧I ̧h̨e̵lped h͞i͢m b̧u͞ild̵ i҉t҉ ̨and̷ mo͠ve ̷ev͞ery̢t̸h҉ińg tḩer͟e̛.͢ ̀In T̶a͟rb͘e̢s' ̷war̶e̡hoùs͝e w͏ere o͝nly҉ ̸thín̡gs̢ ̷of ̕littl̢e͜ v̷alue͞ t͜o͝ avoi̕d̕ t̨he tem͜pta͜t́iơn̵s of̸ ͡somȩ ͜thi͝ef͞s ơr҉ ̛ambit͢i͡ous nơble͢ś."

"You?" Siesta put her hand over her mouth. "You're Sann!"

"That'͠s ri̕gh͟t,̡ l̨ittle͘ one҉. I ̀kņow̵ ̵h͏e ͜t͝old́ ͘yo̸u̸ ̨a̶b̀o̸ut me, bu̶t͞ y̶ou̴ ne̶v͡e̷r͟ s̕a̕w ͞m͝ę.̀ ́N͝ów̕ yo͡u k̀now̕ ̕w̴hy̡.̶" The shadow entered the zone of light cast by Kyle's flashlight. Kyle took a step back in fear. It was like seeing a pile of black sand moving like a living thing, the grains were wiggling and moving within the shapeless silhouette, its size was like that of a small hovervan. A peduncle came out of the dough and approached Siesta, Kyle tried to say something, but he was petrified. The appendix caressed the girl's face cleaning her dirty face. "He ͞loved̨ ͘y̴o̷u̶ mơr̛e thán͜ an͡y̢t̢hing̴ i̧n ̧the ́w͞o͢rl̸d͠,͞ ͡ev͏en̢ f͢r̕o͢m̢ ͡his̸ ow̵n̶ ͟w͟or̶l̨d.̡." Siesta touched the thing with her hand.

"His own world?" She asked.

"H̛e ̛c҉a̵me ͘from ͠t̢he s̢a̶ḿe̡ ́wor̡l̢d̡ of ͘tha̢t ҉bo̧y.̧" He said pointing at Kyle. "He̢ a҉rŗiv͢ed̷ w͜o͠u̡nd̶ed ͞a͏n̡d ͠lo̷śt.͏ ̷W͜hen̸ ͏he̛ ̷d̡isc҉ov͟er̕ed̛ what r͞ea͡l͘l̵y̨ had ha̷p̀pe̢n͝ed͢,͡ u̶ńa͜ble t͠o r͝eturn̡ to his fami̛ly, ͠he ͡de͢cide͢d͜ t̛o l͢i͞v̀ȩ ͘h͝e̴r̛e ͠as ̨a no̵rmal ̡m͢ań,̨ uńt̨il͡ the l̴ast͏ ͞co͞ns̛e͡q̸u̸en͡ces.̨ H̵ȩ hi̡d h̴is'͠ ̡M͏ech,͘ wa̧l͝kéd to̕ t̵h͡e͜ ̵neàr̵e͘s҉t tow͢n. ͏Then̕ ͝the҉ villa͝g̨er̡s͘ of̡f̶er̵e̷d̷ h̀im r͠e͠f̛u҉g͜e͡ ̶ąnd ev̷entual̀l͜y͠ ͢a ̶h̕ome͟ and ͜fa̸ḿil̛y. B͝u̶t ͝hȩ al̡wayş ̧reme͘m̡b͞e̕re͏d ̡wh͟o he͞ was, t͡h͞e͡ ͢art̛ífac͢t̵s ̀h̀e̷ s̶o͠u͏gh̢t͏ wi͞th͏ m̕e,͜ ̵ma̷n̕y w͜ére ̨f͢ro͏m ̡his̴ wo̶rl̵d ͢ánd̸ t͏he̛ ̀m̛o͘śt d͞a̧nger̶ou͡s ones ͢he͏ ̶k̨ep̸t͞ iń h́i̡s ̢other c̀a̕c͜he ̧to ͟pre̴ven͡t a͏nyone҉ wi̴t̢h d̨el͡us̢ion͜s of g͏ra̧nde͝ùr̨ ̨f͘ro͝m̴ ̧u͢s̨i̵ng th͜em̧ ͡a͞g͞a͢ins͜t ci͜v͝ilians.͠ ̴I͏ h͡av͞e to͠ ͘g͜o ̀t̛ò t̴ha͞t w̕a̛r҉eḩo͟use tò s͟e̴e ̸if͞ ͜in t̸he̵se҉ ͝t̡en ͠y̨ea̸rs͠ ̨i̷t h̢a̡s̛ ̧be͢en͠ ͘looted̡, if ̴sơm̧eon҉e has͡ ͞fou̶n̕d̷ ̀it͏ ... it̢ w͠o̧uld̸ b͜é ̡ho̢r̶rib̸le͠.̛"

"He must be a very honorable man." Kyle finally said something still scared by the presence of that being.

"H̕A̢̧̧͢H҉̶A̛͞H̸̶҉A̷͢͝H́A͘H̷̸͝͠A̧͏H̶̴̷̛̛A̡͏!͏̧҉̀͡" It laughed loudly. "O͟h̡,͢ ̸Į h̷ad f̶orǵo͟tt͞e̴n ̛w͟h͝a͘t҉ ͡i͡t҉ ẃas ҉l͘aug͞h̢!͠ ͜Ẁèlĺ,̵ I ca͜n no̶t͜ ͠for̡get, bưt͝ ͠I ha҉ven̶'̡t̨ ̨l͘a͞ugh̀ed ͝i͠n ̧a l̛o̕n͠g ͡tim̶e͝." Then one of the appendages seemed to turn to Kyle "You ͘h͘av̡e̕ no͝ i̵dęą ̶Kyle ̛o͘f t̵h͠e ́Wólve̶s̀. ͡N̕ow̴ y҉ou̵ ̸m͜us͟t͞ ̨go, I ̴will cl͜e̸àns҉e t҉he̡ e͝v͘i͏de͞ǹće o̴f͘ t̛h́e ͢p̷r̴és̡en̢c̷e of ̛y͢ou̸r̴ ̨Me͝ch̸ f̴r͡o̧m ͏t͠h͠įs͢ s̕ite͘ T̵he̴y̸ ̡m̧a̡y n̷ot ̷ye̕t k͟no̧w ҉w̡hat̛ ͟i͞t is̕ ̢b̡ut̶ ̴t̷hese͞ peòp͡l̕e are͝n͞'̕t s̨tu͞p̸id. ̨Íf ͢t́h͟ey̨ se͠e th̀at th̢e p͏rint͜s ͝l̨e̵ft͠ ̵by you̕r͟ m͜ach̀i͡ǹe ̨a̸re ͜sim͜i͡la͏r̢ t̛o̢ w̴hat ̸at̢ta͝cked̶ the man̷or̀ t̴h͠e̷y ͞w͠o̡uld connec̨t ҉the ̛d̛ot̨s v̧e͜ry ͘f́asţ.͟ If t͞hęy͢ ̛a͢sk ̸y̷o̧u̶, you̡ went̵ t͝o ͞r͠escue Siest҉a b҉ut̡ ͏yo̶u f͟ou̴nd͟ h͞e̡r̛ unc̸o͏n͡s̡ciou͘s ̢in̡ t̨h̴i͝s͘ stor̡e̛." Then he looked at the girl. "T̢ell ̀them͠ ̕th̶a̕t ͟C̷o̕ųǹt̶ ́M̡o̕t͢t h̵a҉d a̢ s̵a͠nd҉ ̷e̢le͟m͡e̸nt̨a͘l ͢as a pr͝is͝on͏e҉r.͜ Th̶en it ̵es͜c͢ape̵d ͢an̴d͝ destroyed èv͠er̸yt̡hin͠g҉.̵ I'll mak̶e ͡it ̷l̷oo҉k ̵like ̨th҉at."

"Sand elemental?" Siesta asked.

"W͡e̡ll̷, I'm̡ ̕n̡ót͠ ͞t͞hat b͜ut́ su͢r̢ely ͟I ͏l̨ǫo͡k͠ a l͠ot l̶iḱe one̶.̴"

"What are you?" Kyle tried to look, using his light, to something that could tell him what that creature was, without success.

"W͡el͝ĺ,̨ Í ̸d͡o̕ubt͜ i͘f ͠I ͝told̡ y̢ou ̡the ̀o͠ff̛içi̛al͢ na͞m͟e͘, o͠r̴ ͘the ̛colloqu̸ial͡ n̢a͞m̵e ͡t͟h̀at͟ i͢s ͟u͜s͠e͢d ̛w̸it̴h ̴sómet͡hing͘ li̡k̵e̴ m̵e̴ y̶ou wóu̷l̀d ̵kno̢ẁ ̡it̴,҉ c̢l͟ann͜er͢.̛ W̧hen̨ we҉ m̕eet ág͝a̡in͟ I͘'̸ll̢ e͏xp͡l̷aiǹ ͟i̴t̷ t҉o yo̴u͠.̨ ̧Me̡a͘n̷while,͞ b͞oy̛, ͘I̸'͡v̡e͜ t̴o ̢leav͝e,͝ that̢ ̛w͞a͢r̀ehous̷e̸ co̴n͜t̸ai͡n̷s ̧r̨ęal͟ly d̕an͟ge̛roús͜ th͏in͜g͡s͞, ̛b̛u͠t I͘'̸ll̕ c͞óńta̸c͘t Sies͞ta̕ an̛d̶ ̢y͢ou̶ ͡s͝o̢on. Me҉anw̨hile, pl͢e͟a̵s̀e̸ ̶p̸r͘òte̴c͠t̶ ̵h͠er f̵oŗ ̕m͘e." The thing said starting to move towards the hole in the wall.

* * *

"What are you going to do?" Kyle said trying to make Siesta's trip in the packed cockpit as less uncomfortable as possible.

"What?" Siesta came out of her reverie. Sann had wiped the Mech's hand simply by passing over it, but Kyle decided to take her inside the small cockpit. The night was cold and Siesta's clothes were torn, inside the cockpit at least she would be warner. The girl tried to accommodate behind the command chair and held on in a clamp.

"Regarding your father. It seems that this _dezgra_ freebirth killed him. I am unaware how to help to discover his fate, but I am bound to help you if you want to. Your father was a mechwarrior, a warrior from my world."

"I- I don't know. I have to talk to my mother, she may know something that I don't about him. A clue… something." She rubbed her eyes trying to not cry again.

"Now at least you know how your father lived and fought before he got here." He did a gesture to the cabin.

"Yes… thanks." She ran her hand over the boy's shoulder, despite the goretex and kevlar padding on it. "Y- you saved m- us." Kyle smiled until the remember the creature.

"What in the name of Kerensky was i- him?"

Siesta removed her hand from his shoulder and scratched her chin. "My father always told us that he had a business partner, a friend. He talked a lot about him, but he said he was too shy to show himself in public. My mother and I never got to know if it was a story from my father or if it was real."

Kyle chuckled. "It seemed very real to me, and his appearance explains why you never saw him."

"Kyle." Siesta began. "You don't need to protect me, I mean, you have obligations to your-"

"It is true that I have obligations to my master, but it is also true that I have committed to it. It is my duty and I will not let anything happen to you until we see Sann again and he explains everything to us."

"I hope my father was as noble as you." She said with gratitude in her voice.

"I am sure of it. We are heirs of our forefathers legacy." Kyle raised the hand of the throttle lever raising the thumb, but soon it returned it to put on it and began to slow down. "Hold on!" He said just giving Siesta a little time to avoid falling on the back of the command chair.

"What happens? She asked after she avoided falling by the hard braking.

"M- my master." He pointed to a rider who had just appeared five hundred meters in from of them, whose image had been magnified by the machine cameras. "And she looks angry."

* * *

O **k, Sann just appeared, in the original version I made a** **contest to discover what Sann was. Only one reader managed to guess it.** **The reward was to be able to insert a character of his choice within the story. On a curious note, his proposal added another level more of complexity to the story in the good way. And also were a canon character.**

* * *

 **MasterXMaster: Thanks, all I want is turning Louise to someone more proactive.**

 **As you could see Siesta's father had an exotic arfifacts bussines, why? Because he knew what are these things and how to find them. Siesta's family don't have a temple, the temple is in the middle of Tarbes and is a Church thing. But her father had something better... way better.**

 **See you on the 31st century's battlefield, mechjocks ...**


End file.
